Love letter from a thief part 2
by Lexy3643
Summary: Faye is starting to love life as a thief but things never stay simple for along. Her and the Black foxes meet a new thief called The Silver Cat and are forced to go up against government. Who will win? This is part 2 of my other story, as before I've re-written from the game and merged some stories together.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was the middle of autumn and it was time for the autumn exhibits. Work lately had been very busy.

"Faye." Mitsuru beamed.

Mitsuru was one of my colleagues, he had short wispy brown hair and wore glasses and a light grey suit with a white shirt and a blue tie.

"Today's the delivery of antiques and paintings the other museums are lending us, right?"

"Yes, the exhibit will have a lot of attention on it. So we need to make it a success." I said.

As I went to check the tags for the special exhibition, a co-worker called us over.

"Faye, Mitsuru, can you come and help out in the storage room?"

"Sure." I said.

The delivery must be here; I was so excited! All three of us went down to the storage room.

"Wow, look at this." Mitsuru said.

"Mitsuru, put on your gloves." I said.

We both wore white coats and gloves as we checked the pieces that arrived. Each piece was packed carefully in crates, they were all so amazing.

"Look at this sword." Mitsuru said and held up a sword in the air.

"This jewel is a gift from the monarchy of Gonzola." I said.

I picked up the large jewel and examined it in the light. It looked almost too beautiful to be real. I couldn't stop smiling, everything was so amazing. I took my time as I examined every item, making sure I took in every detail.

"All right, that should be enough for today." My co-worker said.

"Huh? What time is it?" I said and looked at my watch.

I had been so absorbed in my work, nearly 3 hours had passed.

"Ok, we'll lock up and be right there." Mitsuru said.

The rest of the museum workers were finishing in the other room, me and Mitsuru focused on putting the new items in a room with extra security.

The next morning, as I came in through the main entrance I was greeted by Mitsuru. He looked troubled.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked.

"Something terrible has happened. Some of the art pieces that came yesterday, disappeared." He said.

"What do you mean disappeared?" I asked.

"When I came to work this morning, the secure room was open. And some of the art pieces were missing."

"What?! No!"

"What are we going to do? If word gets out no one will trust our museum anymore and we might even get shut down." He said.

He looked at the floor and tears started to form in his eye.

"This is no time to cry! Go tell the museum director right now." I ordered.

After all the employees were gathered, we were informed there was a chance that the art was stolen, and we discussed how we were going to deal with it. Then we gave our statements to the police.

"Since it could be damaging to us if work got out the police won't release any information about the investigation to the public for a while. But if they don't find anything, we'll have to take responsibility for it and close the museum." Mitsuru said.

"No, it won't come to that. Don't worry, we'll find out who did this and we'll get everything back." I said firmly.

"How can you be so confident?" he asked.

"Just trust me." I said.

I then walked off and got out my mobile. There was only one person I needed to ring, Boss.

"Hey it's Faye. I have a favour to ask."

A few hours later, I walked into the Le Renard Noir bar.

"Hey!" Hiro beamed as he came in after me. "Oh, everyone's already here?"

"Welcome, yep everyone's here." Boss said.

It was well after closing and the bar was empty except for us.

"Hey, Beardy. What'd you screw up now?" Takuto asked.

"No, I wasn't the one who called everyone here. Faye has a favour to ask." Boss said.

Everyone turned and looked at me.

"Faye? That's unusual. I'll help you with anything you need!" Hiro said.

"Stop joking around. Can't you see how serious Faye looks?" Kenny said.

"Sorry, sorry." Hiro said.

"So what's the favour you want to ask us?" Riki asked.

I started to explain what happened at the museum.

"I see. And this upcoming exhibit was highly publicized, too. It probably drew the attention of some bad guys." Boss said.

"The police are working on it but.." I said.

"If the culprits are professionals, you won't have much luck getting the art back." Kenny said.

"It'll be sold on the black market and that'll be the end of it." Riki said.

"I can't let that happened. Please, you guys are the only ones I can ask for help." I said and bowed my head deeply.

"Faye.." Boss said with a tender smile.

"Well, how are we supposed to say no to that?" Kenny said.

"C'mon Faye, stop bowing your head." Hiro said.

"All right, we'll help." Takuto said.

My mouth burst into a grin "You guys are the best!"

"We are the Black Foxes, after all. We always help those in need." Boss said.

"I agree!" Hiro said.

"Let me see the list of art pieces that were stolen." Riki said.

"Here." I said and handed over a piece of paper.

Everyone gathered around him to read the list.

"What, more than one thing got stolen?" Kenny asked.

"We counted five missing pieces. We did tighten security but…"

"Apparently not enough since so many things got stolen." Takuto said.

"Now now, Takkun. It's not Faye's fault." Boss said.

"If we don't find them soon, they might be sold overseas. We should split up and look for them. Hiro you take the painting just in case we run into a counterfeit." Riki said.

"Roger. Leave it to me." Hiro said.

"Ok, I'll check the black market for the missing jewel." Boss said.

"I'll look for the sword since it'll be easier for me to carry it out." Kenny said.

"A puppet? That's still considered a work of art in this scientific age?" Takuto asked.

"Fine, you can look for the puppet Takuto." Riki said.

"Wha-!" Takuto gasped.

"Since you seem so interested in it, it'll be a piece of cake. Right?"

"Fine." Takuto agreed but muttered something under his breath so I didn't hear what he said.

"Me and Faye will take the missing the scroll." Riki said.

"Hey, not fair. How come you always hog Faye?" Hiro asked.

"It's not up for discussion." Riki said firmly before he turned and looked at me. "Is that alright with you Faye?"

"Yeah that's fine. Thank you so much for your help." I said.

"It's ok. You know you can always count on us." Riki said with his normal smug smile. "Just make sure not to get in the way, all right?"

"I'll try my best."

"Good, we'll leave first thing tomorrow so you can stay over tonight. You can have my room." He said.

He patted my head lightly and smiled kindly at me. As usual, he gave me his room without protest.

The next morning, I woke up and saw Riki getting ready to leave.

"You're leaving already? Hang on, I'll go get ready. I won't be long." I said.

I jumped out of bed and went into the bathroom.

"Yeah, I've heard that one before. You know that friend of yours, Ranko?"

I had a toothbrush in my mouth and was scrubbing my teeth.

"Yeah, what about her?" I asked.

"I'd like to ask her a few questions. Can you call her and see if she can meet with us?"

"Sure." I agreed.

After I had gotten changed, I rang Ranko and arranged to meet her at a coffee shop. We sat at a table and ate breakfast as we waited for her to come.

I should probably tell him more about the scroll that was stolen. I took out documents from my bag related to the scroll.

"We don't have too much time, so I'll just give you the basics." I said.

"It's a scroll from the Warring States Era. A letter written by a famous military commander." He said.

"That's right, how did you know?"

"I already researched it when I was making our plan. Who do you think I am, anyway?"

I stared at him in surprise "When did you even have time to do that?"

"After you fell asleep." He said.

"Oh."

"You'd better not apologise." He said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because once you start, you never stop."

I pulled a face at him in response.

"But still, I should have told you all this yesterday." I said as I put the documents back into my bag.

"No, I wanted to do research on my own without any preconceived notions. It's nothing for you to worry about." He said.

"Fair enough, as long as we get it back." I said.

"Oh, we'll definitely get it back. As if I would ever make a mistake." He said and flashed his normal arrogant grin at me.

He was so cocky but a great thief. It was always amazing to work with him, he never ceased to amaze me. Not that I'd ever tell him that, his ego was big enough as it is.

"So, what are you going to give me once we get the scroll back?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"What's with that tone of voice? You're not gonna make me work for free, right?"

I wasn't expecting him to say that so I wasn't sure what to say.

"All right, I'll need to collect the down payment first." He said.

He then took hold of my chin and tilted my head upwards, his face started to come closer.

"What are you doing?" I said and pushed him away.

He burst out laughing "You're no fun."

"Shut up, this is not supposed to be fun."

He just smiled before he took a small sip of his tea.

Geeze, what a jerk. Could he at least try and take this seriously?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Faye." Ranko shouted.

I turned and saw her stood by the door.

"Ranko, over here." I said and waved.

The moment she came to the table, we hugged and exchanged greetings before she sat down.

"Sorry to ask you here so early in the morning." I said.

"Not at all, don't worry about it. So, what's up?" she asked.

"Go ahead Riki." I said.

I looked at him, he sat up straighter and started talking to Ranko.

"I asked Faye to call you here this morning."

"Oh really?" Ranko asked.

"There have been numerous scrolls stolen all over the country lately, I was wondering if you knew anything about it?" he asked.

There were? I didn't know that.

"I thought an excellent journalist such as yourself might know something the general public doesn't have access to." He said.

"Oh please. I'm far from excellent." Ranko said with a cheeky smile.

"Any information you have would be great." I said.

"What's gotten into you Faye?" she asked.

"We just have a personal interest in it." Riki said.

"Interest hm? Alright then. There are mysterious white raccoons being left at the scene of the crimes."

"But why?" I asked.

"I guess it's like a calling card. Kind of like the Black Foxes and their letters." She said.

"Racoons, huh?" Riki said.

I glanced at him, he had a serious look on his face, as if deep in thought.

After we thanked Ranko, we headed back to Le Renard Noir.

"Raccoon." Riki kept saying.

"A white raccoon. What do you think it means?" I asked.

"Don't tell me it's… nah.."

"What is it?" I asked.

"There's a thief who goes by that name in the underground." He said.

"A thief like us?"

"Well, I'm a little offended to be put in the same category as him, but.. ahhh. Now things are getting to be a pain."

"Why?" I asked.

But he didn't say anything more.

"All right, let's figure out where the white raccoon will strike next." He said.

"And how will we do that?" I asked.

"Use our heads, of course." He said.

He then took a map out from his pocket, there were a number of red and blue circles on it.

"Red are the places that got robbed. Blues haven't been robbed yet." Riki said.

"Wow, you went to all this trouble." I said.

"The scrolls that were stolen are all quite different, but the thief tends to steals from well-known places. This place might be next. I think it's highly likely he'll strike this art museum." He said.

He pointed to a museum that was older than mine.

"But are you sure this White Raccoon is the one responsible?" I asked.

"Just wait." He said.

He then took out his mobile and showed me a blog.

"What's this?" I asked.

"The white raccoon's blog." He said.

"He writes a blog? That doesn't seem like a very smart thing to do." I said.

"He's a total attention-lover. Read this." He said.

I took the phone from him.

"'At the museum now!' Hey, isn't this when the artefacts were stolen?"

"Yep and there's more too." He said.

He was right, I looked down further and saw 'At the antique shop'. The date was stamped at 2am.

"This guy is ridiculous." I said.

He had no common sense at all, how has he not been arrested yet?

"And that's why we need to teach him a lesson. He's an insult to all thieves." Riki said.

"Yeah." I agreed.

That night, Riki and I snuck into the art museum. We hid in the shadows, since we weren't sure if the raccoon was going to show up.

"I'm kind of nervous, if feels weird to be stealing from another thief." I said.

"Don't worry, who do you think I am anyway?" Riki said.

"Yeah yeah." I said and sighed.

It was good that he was confident but did he have to be so arrogant?

"Just stay behind me, ok? You don't have to be nervous." He said and slipped his arm around my shoulders.

"What are you doing? Now is not the time for this." I said and pushed him away.

"It's fine, it you're too tense you won't be able to move quickly when it counts." He said.

I just glared at him.

The corner of his lips curved up into a slight smile.

"It's kind of exciting whispering like this to each other, huh?" he said.

"Not really, is that all you can think about?" I hissed.

He just chuckled and then poked my cheek "Like you can talk. You're starting to blush; I know you can't help but think of stuff like this when you're with me."

"Seriously, you are the most conceited man I have ever met."

Before he could reply,

"Heheh, time for my graaaand entrance!" a voice sung loudly.

That must be the raccoon.

I then saw a skinny man enter the room, he had mid length black hair and wore a black suit with a green shirt and a black tie.

"Why is he singing?" I asked.

"Tch. For a thief, he has terrible timing." Riki said.

He stood up and walked away from me, with a serious look on his face.

"Who are you?" the man asked as Riki stepped out from the shadows.

He swung his flashlight around, panicked.

"Will you give back the scroll you stole?" Riki said.

"What?" the man said. "I can't believe someone has caught me, the white raccoon! I thought I had committed the perfect crime!"

Was he seriously surprised? He left behind so much evidence, I mean it was kind of obvious.

"Come on and give back the scroll. And everything else you stole too." Riki said.

"What? Were you following me? Are you one of my fans?" he asked with a proud smile.

"No, just give us back the scroll." I said.

"A woman? Were you two having some kind of secrete rendezvous here?"

"What are you talking about?" Riki asked.

"Ooh, I see. So you are one of my fans. Just hang on one minute, I'll give you my autograph."

I looked at him up and down, he seemed very weird.

"Um.. are you ok?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You seem… off… in a lot of weird ways." I said.

"This guy must be some kind of idiot." Riki said turning to me.

"What? How dare you call the noble thief White Raccoon an idiot! Don't you even understand what these scrolls mean?"

"Does something good happen when you get them all together?" I asked.

"Hehe. Listen veeeery carefully, my dear."

"Get off your high horse." Riki hissed.

"Riki I know it's hard but stop interrupting him, otherwise we'll never get out of here at this rate." I said.

"Tch, fine, come on talk." Riki said.

"That's the attitude you should've had in the first place." The man said.

Oh my god, what an idiot. He just liked hearing himself talk. He didn't even seem to notice that we were patronising him as he babbled on and on.

"And so therefore, when you gather the seven scrolls the location of the treasure will be revealed." He said.

"Give me a break, you've been reading one too many comic books." Riki said.

"It's true, I've been studying it for years!"

"Years… but you've just started going after the scrolls recently." Riki said.

"Grrrr…. I-i-i-i- I challenge you to a duel!" the man screamed.

"You idiot. Challenging me to a duel to do what?" Riki asked.

"All right, I'll explain the conditions for victory."

"Listen, why don't you come back after you've learned how to listen to people?" Riki said.

This was ridiculous, this guy was clearly crazy.

The raccoon got ready in a fighting stance. He seemed like he was really into this, but we shouldn't even be paying any attention to him. I mean I doubt he could actually do anything to hurt us.

Riki looked beyond annoyed but somehow managed to keep his cool.

"Heheh. Looks like you weren't expecting to fight me. You'd better prepare yourself, after I knock you around, I'll squash you flat like a bug and then-"

"Yeah, yeah that's enough. Smash me like a bug or whatever, bring it on." Riki said with a sigh.

He didn't even get ready into a fighting stance.

I was kind of looking forward to this, I hoped that Riki would kick his ass and make it hurt.

"Urgh! You just pissed off the one person you shouldn't have pissed off." The raccoon shouted. "Here I come!"

He charged forwards but then instantly twisted his ankle and fell to the floor.

"Owww!" he cried out.

Ohh, I heard his ankle crack. That sounded painful.

The raccoon then fell to the floor.

"Huh? He just fell down for no reason." I said.

Me and Riki both looked at each other confused.

"What exactly are you trying to do here?" Riki asked.

He slowly approached the Raccoon, he pushed him up to his knees and twisted his arm behind his back.

"Oww! Hey! Lemma have a do-over."

"This guy's too weak." Riki said.

"Yeah, it wasn't even a challenge. An old lady could beat him up." I said.

"Stop, I feel pathetic even talking to this guy." Riki said.

It was the easiest fight ever.

"Let go, you coward." The raccoon shouted and struggled.

Riki sighed "Will you shut up?" Riki said.

"Ooww!" the raccoon shouted as Riki tightened his grip.

"Hurry up and spill it before I break your arm."

"Ok, ok!" The raccoon said.

"You've stolen scrolls lately, right? Take them all out." Riki ordered.

"They're in that bag." The raccoon said.

There was a black bag on the floor not far from us. Riki gestured for me to get it. I opened the back and started going through it.

"Oh, they're in here." I said.

"All right, we're taking all of them." Riki said.

"Since we're here and everything, should we look at the treasure map?" I asked.

"Well, I won't stop you." Riki said.

I wasn't expecting much since I came from the Raccoon but why not? You never know. I spread out the six scrolls plus the one from the museum.

"It doesn't say where the treasure is." I said.

"Of course not. Some of those come from different eras, not to mention foreign countries." Riki said.

"What? Oh I see. They're not regular scrolls, they're hanging scrolls. What have I done?!" the raccoon shouted.

"Hey, get a hold of yourself!" I shouted back.

We gathered up the scrolls and were about to leave when we heard a sudden explosion.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Did something just explode?" Riki asked.

"oops. I forgot to turn off the timer on the bomb." The raccoon said.

"Why the hell did you rig up a bomb in the first place?!" Riki demanded.

"Because bombs are my trade mark."

"What about the damn white raccoons?!" Riki asked.

"They are too!" the raccoon said and burst out laughing.

"Pick one, it's confusing." Riki said.

"Shouldn't we be getting out of here Riki?" I asked.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm gonna go crazy if I keep talking to him." Riki said. "You… ah! He got away!"

The Raccoon was running down the hallway and quickly disappeared.

"Mwhahah! I'll just call it a tie this time. See you again!" he called out.

That guy was crazy!

"Let's just go, he'll get in the way otherwise." I said.

"You're right, let's go." Riki said.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

We then heard another explosion, but this time it was very close. The room we were stood in shook. I stopped and looked around, I tried to figure out where the explosion came from.

BOOM!  
The third explosion came from above me, I instinctively dropped to the floor. I looked up and watched as the ceiling started to cave in.

"Faye!" Riki shouted.

His shout broke me from my trance, as the ceiling started to come down I dived out of the way and skidded along the floor.

As soon as the dust settled, I stood up and looked around the room. A pile of debris was in front of me, the room looked a messed. It looked like a hurricane had been around the room.

"Riki? Riki!"

"You don't have to shout, I'm can hear you." He said.

I turned around in the direction of the voice and saw him lying on the ground. His leg was pinned underneath some of the debris.

"I'll be right there." I said.

I placed the bag on the floor and started to run towards him.

"Idiot! It's dangerous, don't touch it!"

"I can't just leave you here." I said and knelt down beside him. "Can you feel anything with your leg?" I asked.

"Yeah it's fine, it just got caught."

"Good." I said and looked at the debris.

There was so much of it, so if I tried to move it a bit at a time. So, I started to move bits of the debris when I heard another explosion in the distance.

"How many more bombs does that guy have?!" I said.

"Don't worry about me, get out of here!" Riki shouted.

"No."

"Idiot, listen to me." He shouted.

"No you listen to me, I won't leave you behind." I said firmly and moved quicker to move the debris.

"Why won't you listen to me?! Hurry and go! That's an order from your leader."

"Well sorry leader but I have to disobey." I said.

"Tch. Where'd you get that stubbornness from, anyway?" he asked.

"Dunno, I've always been stubborn. But talk about calling the kettle black, you're just as stubborn." I said.

"I'm not nearly as hard-headed as you." He said with a cheeky smile.

I grabbed the biggest piece of debris and slowly rolled it off his body and suddenly, Riki could move.

"That's it! Let's go!" he jumped to his feet, grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him as he ran. I scooped up the bag as we ran past.

As we headed outside, we heard another explosion. This one also came from above, the ceiling started to fall on top of us as we ran. At the same time, the force from the blast nearly knocked us down.

"Ugh.." Riki groaned. "You ok?"

"Yeah." I said.

"Good. Keep going."

He tightened his grip around my hand and we continued running.

30 minutes later,

"I'm just glad you guys weren't more seriously hurt." Boss said.

Both me and Riki were sat in chairs and Kenny was looking us over for injuries. We only had a few cuts and scrapes, nothing serious.

"Please, as if someone like the White Raccoon can do anything to me." Riki said with a confident smile on his face.

"But we got the scroll and the other scrolls he stole." I said and showed them the bag.

"Way to go!" Hiro beamed.

"Did you guys find the other items?" I asked.

"Yes, all of the items have been returned to your museum." Boss said.

"We'll return all the scrolls to the proper owner's tomorrow." Riki said.

I nodded.

"Thank you guys, seriously. I really appreciate it." I said.

"You're welcome." Hiro said.

"Anything for you Faye." Kenny said.

"Like I said, we're the Black Foxes. It's our job." Boss said.

"I just did it because leader told me to." Takuto said.

"Oh really? Out of all of us, you were the most desperate to get Faye's stuff back. He even offered to help me with the painting." Hiro said.

"Shut up!" Takuto hissed.

I smiled and jumped on Takuto before he could run away. I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a quick squeeze.

"Ew gross! Get off me!" he shouted and broke free.

His face was bright red.

"Faye just hugged Takuto. I want a hug to." Hiro said and held out his arms.

"Everyone gets a hug." I said and hugged Hiro first.

As I hugged him, he lifted me up and spun me around. By the time he set me back down, I was dizzy and almost fell over till Riki caught me.

"Hey Hiro, be careful." Riki hissed.

"Sorry Faye, are you alright?" Hiro asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks Riki." I said.

I stepped back and waited for my head to stop spinning before I hugged everyone else.

It was quite late and I didn't want to go home so I stayed at the bar and as usual, Riki gave me his room. He was such a nice guy.

I had just had a shower, I was stood in his room wearing a shower robe and was towel drying my hair.

*Knock knock*

I turned and say Riki stood in the doorway.

"Hey, thank you for letting me have you room. Again." I said.

He smiled "You're welcome but I should be thanking you." He said and walked over to me. "I never thought you'd be the one to save me."

He took hold of hands and stroked my fingers with his thumbs.

I smiled "You're welcome."

"I'm so glad you're safe." He said in a gentle tone.

His looked at me with such a passionate gaze, he had never looked at me that way before.

I wrapped my arms around him and stepped close to him, till our bodies were touching.

"I'm glad that you weren't hurt." I said.

I felt him return my hug, he held me tight in his arms.

"You were a big help for once. So, I'll give you a special reward." He said.

I let him go and stepped back so I could look at his face.

"What kind of reward?" I asked.

"What would you like?" he asked.

The next night, I got Riki to take me out for a special meal at the fanciest restaurant in town. Hiro even lent me one of his gowns to wear. It had been a while since I had been out with Riki.

A week later, I went to work as usual, only to find everyone a little restless.

Don't tell me there was another robbery!

"Mitsuru, what's going?" I asked.

"There's a new security guard starting."

Oh that's right, since the robbery we had tightened security. We had at least three security guards start in the last week.

"But why are people so restless?" I asked.

"Rumours say that this guy used to be a secret agent, he's the best of the best." He answered.

Oh really? Well, I couldn't wait for this.

"Hello everyone, so I would like to introduce you all to the new head of security. Hyosuke." The director said.

We all turned to the door, a man my age walked into the room. He had short black hair, stood taller than me and wore a black suit with a white shirt and a dark blue tie. He looked huge, I wouldn't want to mess with him in a fight.

"This is Hyosuke Kujo. You're about the same age as Faye and Mitsuru?" the director said.

"I'm 25." Hyosuke said.

He was kind of cute but he didn't look that special. He looked like he should be working at a night club rather than a museum.

All the other girls started to whisper to each other, saying how cute he was etc.

"With Hyosuke's help, from now on we're going to be proud to call this museum the most secure in the world. He will help us prevent any more robberies. Hyosuke, I look forward to working with you." The director said.

"Likewise sir." Hyosuke said with a smile.

The director seemed super excited today.

"I'm sure I have a lot to learn, but I can't wait to get started." Hyosuke said.

All the girls seemed to be hanging on his every word, what was wrong with them?

"At his age, Hyosuke's already provided security consulting for some of the largest names in business. He's here with us thanks to Mr Kanemoto, the chairman of our board of trustees." The director said.

"Does he work with computer system?" I asked.

"Actually, he'll be working with the building to prevent human intruders from physically trespassing. I'm sure computers will be a part of that thought. Until he's used to the place… Faye, I'd like you to help him get acclimated here."

"Yes sir." I said and nodded.

Hyosuke then walked up to me.

"Faye, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Such a polite guy!

"It's nice to meet you to." I said and smiled at him.

The director continued the meeting.

After, I spent most of the day receiving works of art that were basically national treasures from local and overseas museums. The artefacts would arrive, I would look them over and then send them to where they needed to be.

"Wow, all of these treasures. They are amazing and I can't believe they're coming here to our museum." I said to myself.

I was holding vase; it was from ancient Egypt. I could only imagine how long it must have taken to make, by looking at it I could picture what life must have been like back then. If I could have anything in the world, it would definitely be a time machine.

"Faye, I was hoping we could discuss the security for the exhibition?" Hyosuke said and walked up beside me.

"Oh sure." I said.

I put the vase down, removed my gloves and we walked into an empty gallery room.

"We always put the main objects up front here." I said.

"I understand that a lot of the objects for the next exhibition are going to be small, correct? I don't think putting them at the front will work." He said.

"Why?" I asked.

"It just doesn't seem all that secure." He said.

"But… that's what we've always done." I said.

"Right. I'm thinking that's why you have so many problems with thieves and break-ins. No?"

My heart skipped a beat when he mentioned thieves.

"For example, if this was a grocery store or a drug store, goods are positioned according to some rules. But here, we're not talking about lining up some carrots and potatoes." He said.

He then closed one eye and used his hand to get an idea of the room's measurements.

"Objects of various sizes, weights, values. Only one of each of these in the whole world, and they're all right here. Doing everything according to theory every time it isn't safe. And besides that, isn't it boring?" he said with a sudden grin.

"Boring?"

"Let's think this through, according to your plan. You're leading the exhibition aren't you?"

"Yes." I said.

"Based on the size of these windows and doors, and the distance between the entrance and the treasures on display and of course the width of the passageways, it sounds like you haven't thought about security at all."

"But, this room is equipped with security shutters." I said. "I thought that would be enough."

There was a moment of silence between us, Hyosuke then looked at me with disappointment.

"What if the shutters didn't work? Then what, that's it?"

"Oh, well you gotta point." I said.

Takuto could easily stop the shutters from working. Actually, that's probably exactly what he did when the Black Foxes stole from the museum.

"I'd like to come up with a system, in case the shutters don't work. That would give us more time, not the thieves. No one is walking out of this building with our works of art unless they collapse our ceiling to get it. Ok? I don't want a single one of these pieces to go missing. Is that ok with you?"

There was a seductive look in his eyes as he spoke to me. Well, he certainly was confident but I bet the Black Foxes could still beat his system.

"Yeah, that's fine." I said.

"Good, you're cute. I like obedient girls." He said with a big grin on his face.

"Obedient?!" I questioned angrily.

He then turned away "Ok so, at the entrance we should…"

He didn't even seem to notice how annoyed I was; it was like he just flipped back into business mode.

We continued working together till it was the end of the working day. I was stood outside the museum waiting for Kenny to come pick me up. It was pouring down with rain so I was holding an umbrella over my head. I was wearing my gym gear, every day after work I would go to the gym either with Kenny when he wasn't working or on my own. I was determined to get fitter and stronger, at least that way I could be of help to the Black Foxes.

"Hey Faye. What you doing?"

I turned around and saw Hyosuke stood behind me.

"Waiting for a friend." I said.

"Oh cool. Well, have fun." He said and waved before walking off.

Kenny arrived not long after, we went to the gym together and worked out for over two hours. We did a mixture of cardio with a lot of running on the treadmill and then loads of weighs. After, we showered at the gym and headed to the Le Renard Noir to discuss the next mission.

"We're going after a guy who sells stolen art on the black market." Riki said.

"So we're not stealing anything this time?" I asked.

He nodded.

"As a matter of fact, Takkun investigated and discovered that this Akura guy, the new prime minister, is involved in illegal art deals. So, I got a little help from an acquaintance and we're going to the prime minister's official residence." Boss said.

"Seriously? The prime minister is doing this?" I asked.

"In our own backyard." Hiro said.

"No one would suspect the prime minister of being on the same level as thieves and black market dealers." Kenny said.

"The day is next Wednesday. As always, Takuto you're in charge of taking down security systems." Riki said.

"'Kay." Takuto said.

"The stolen painting is believed to be either in a vault in the basement, or a reception room in the corner of the second floor. But we have to choose one first." Riki said.

He then laid out a map on the table.

"Normally, you hide that kind of thing in the basement." Takuto said.

"There aren't any windows and there could be traps set for potential intruders." Kenny said.

The corner of the room on the second floor had a large window. Normally, no one would put the painting somewhere so visible.

"Which makes the basement our target." Riki said.

"Actually, hang on a second." I said.

"What's up?" Boss asked.

Thought it didn't seem remarkable at the time, but something Hyosuke said earlier just hit me.

"'The best place to hide a tree is a forest'. Could that be what's happening here?" I said.

"Huh?" Takuto said. "There's no trees in a room. Did you hit your head?"

"That's not what I meant. I'm saying instead of hiding treasure somewhere obvious like the basement, it makes more sense to hide it in a room you can see from the street. And where there are lots of paintings on the walls." I said.

We all looked at the photos acquired for us by Boss's acquaintance.

"She's right, there's a lot of paintings in this room." Riki said.

"He could've hid the stolen paintings under any of these paintings, too." Hiro said.

"To get into the basement requires the security card of key personnel beyond the prime minster." Riki said.

"It'd be unnatural for the prime minister himself to be frequently going in and out of this place that houses state secretes." Boss said.

"Good going Faye!" Hiro said.

"Thanks but I can't take all the credit. It came from a new guy at work." I said.

"Oh really?" Hiro asked and gave me a suggestive gaze.

"Shhhh. Speak of the devil… and he will appear." Boss said.

The next was left on and sure enough, the prime minister was on. Boss quickly turned up the volume.

"Evil is running rampant. I won't simply stand by." The prime minister said.

"Look in the mirror." Takuto shouted at the screen.

"Oh no." Boss shouted.

He jumped to his feet and ran into the kitchen, he returned holding a white envelope in his hand.

"Whew, close call. I almost forgot about this." He said.

"Forgot about what?" Kenny asked.

"Is it a letter?" I asked.

"Precisely, but there's no sender." Boss said. "It was in LRN's mailbox this morning. It's totally weird, I figured I should show you guys."

"No sender is really fishy." Takuto said.

"What if it's cursed?" Hiro asked.

"Anyway, open it." Riki said.

We opened the envelope and found a letter inside.

"Tonight, 9pm. Be sure to watch the new prime minister's policy speech." I read aloud.

I saw a look of surprise on Riki's face.

Why would someone send us a letter? Was someone onto us? We were about to go after the prime minister after all.

"Oh yeah, the speech. Is today." Kenny said and pointed to the tv.

"Everyone. Now that I'm prime minister, our nation will be a bright place. In fact, my motto for as a leader is 'cleaner than ever!'"

"Clean? When has he ever been clean?" Takuto said.

"There's something weird about this." Hiro said.

Riki was silent, I wondered what he was thinking? Everyone looked anxious.

"As a first step, tonight I make a promise to you, the people of this country. That I will root out all the evil that threatens us. The 'Clean Japan' campaign starts today." The prime minister continued.

"What does that mean? That's the stupidest name I've ever heard." Takuto said.

"It's getting weirder-" Hiro started speaking but stopped when Kenny interrupted.

"Quite!" he hissed.

We all froze, Kenny without a sound rushed to the window. He peered out and clicked his tongue.

"Dammit. Guys…. The LRN's surrounded."

"What!?"

"By who?" Boss asked.

"I dunno. Dammit, it's the rain. Now it's too late." Kenny said.

"What do we do?" Hiro asked.

Boss's phone then started to ring.

"Caller unknown." He said.

"Boss, let's get out of here." Riki said.

"Ok."

Riki winked and Boss answered his phone, he put it on loud speaker.

"This is Atsumu Kashiwabara? Boss of the Black Foxes? It's a pleasure to speak with you. Did you see my speech?"

It was the prime minister!

"Sorry for calling you out of the blue like this. Did you see the letter I left this morning? And…. My speech?"

"Yes." Boss answered.

"Then this won't take long. I don't have a lot time anyway, so I'll make this brief. The first target of the Clean Japan campaign is you."

We all gasped.

"My men should be arriving before me. I look forward to meeting you. Heheh." He then hung up.

Not a moment later, someone started banging on the door.

"So, it was the prime minister who sent the letter." Riki said.

"Does he know that we're after him because of the stolen art?" I asked.

"Probably." Hiro said.

The bangs on the door were getting louder, they were trying to break down the door.

"The prime ministers men, so I'm guessing the guys out there are military?" Boss said.

"Doesn't sound like facing them head on is a good idea. Riki." Kenny said.

"Everyone, up to the roof! Emergency evacuation, we're getting out of here." Riki ordered.

How were we going to escape from the roof? It didn't seem like a good plan.

"Faye, quit staring. Move it!" Riki shouted.

"Ok." I said.

I followed behind Riki and the others as we made our way up to the roof. The door to the roof flung open as Kenny kicked it, rain continued to pour and the wind was starting to get stronger.

"Boss, ya can't leave your laundry hanging out at a night like this." Hiro said.

"That's not important right now. Here's what we do. We run away, use the roof tops." Riki said.

"But to where?" I asked.

"Anywhere. We have to get away from here." He said. "Ready?"

Everyone started running, but within moments soldiers piled onto the roof.

"There you are!"

"Don't move!"

The soldiers were all black and were pointing their guns towards us.

"Don't let any of them get a way. Go!" one ordered.

"Yes sir." The soldiers all replied and started to advance towards us.

"God dammit!" Riki shouted. "We have to split up. Meet at the rendezvous point."

What rendezvous point?

"Got it! Later guys!" Kenny shouted and he jumped off the roof and easily landed on the building next to us.

"Got it! See you there!" Hiro said and jumped to different roof.

"Alright, I'll see ya." Takuto said and he disappeared next.

"Stay safe you two." Boss said and disappeared to.

"Faye, come with me." Riki said.

"Ok." I nodded.

I grabbed his hand and we got ready to jump when some of the soldiers blocked our path.

"This way." Riki shouted and pulled me with him as we ran across the roof. "You go first, I'll hold them off."

"I can't leave you." I said.

"Just go, you need to get out of here." He shouted.

I froze and stared at him, I couldn't just leave him. There was no way he could handle this many soldiers on his own.

"Don't worry, I'll find you. For now, just go!"

I sighed "Fine, please be careful." I said before I turned and jumped.

I jumped off the roof and landed on another building before I made my way down a fire escape. I jumped off the ladder and landed in a dark street and started to run down it.

My feet were killing me, I sure picked one hell of a day to wear heels. I stopped and pulled off my shoes and continued running. Those gym sessions were really coming in handy.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I ran out of the street and crossed a road and ran straight down another. I stopped to catch my breath, my feet were bloody and blistered. I looked behind me, none of the soldiers were behind me. Had I lost them?

"Hey." Someone shouted.

I turned around and saw Hyosuke stood behind me.

"Faye? Is that you?" he asked.

He walked over to me and held an umbrella over me.

"You don't look so good." He said.

He dressed in his work suit, had he just finished work?

"What happened?" he asked.

"Uh…"

What could I possibly tell him? I couldn't say that I was being hunted down by the military, plus I couldn't get him involved in this.

"Look I'm sorry but I have to go, I'm in a hurry." I said.

I moved past him but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.

"Wait." He said.

"No, I can't. I have to go." I said and tried to pull my hand free.

"I can't leave a girl in trouble, don't run away. Let me help." He said.

I saw a serious look flash across his face before he was back to his usual, friendly manner.

"So, let me guess. A fight with your boyfriend? And you ran out of the house?"

"Uh… well…."

"I live near here. The least I could do is give you a towel. Come on." He said and started to pull me with him.

Going to his house? It would be a great place to hide but I couldn't get him involved, plus the soldiers could be right behind me.

I shook off his hand and ran away.

"Hey, wait!" he shouted.

There was a sharpness to his voice, that was different to his normal light-hearted tone. I couldn't stop. He ran past me and blocked my path, I skidded to a stop and started to back away from him.

I had to say something to get him to leave me alone. But what could I say?

As I continued to move backwards, I didn't see a small bin behind me and ended up falling over backwards.

He sighed "That's what you get for trying to run away." He said and walked over to me.

I looked up at him, feeling sorry for myself. I had landed in a huge puddle, I was wet, sore and tired.

"I won't forgive you for running from me." He said firmly.

Who was this guy? He was glaring at me.

"Kidding. Your boyfriend that scary? I'll give you shelter, come on let's go."

"No, let go of me." I shouted as he pulled me to my feet.

"There, there. It's ok." He said with a tender smile.

He grabbed me tightly by the arms and pushed me into a car parked beside us.

10 minutes later,

"Here, a towel." He said.

I was sat in his kitchen by a long white table, his house was huge and just on the outside of town. It looked like a mansion, how could he afford to live in a place like this? The rooms were all white and modern looking, and the house was so quiet. Was he the only one who lived here?

"Thanks." I said and wiped my face.

"I'll get you something to change into. Wait here." He said and walked out of the room.

I then started to dry off my hair, I first pulled it out of the pony tail and started to rub my head.

I needed to come up with a story as to why I was out in the rain. He seemed to think that I had a fight with my boyfriend, maybe I could play up to that?

A couple of minutes later, he returned with a t-shirt and a hot chocolate in his hand.

"You can relax, you know? Here, it's hot chocolate." He said and held out the cup to me.

I stared at the cup and then back at him.

"For me?"

"For you. I don't know why you're so nervous, but I thought you'd feel better if you warmed yourself up." He said and gave me the cup.

I was acting weird, I needed to relax and start to act normally. He was wearing the same friendly face I saw at work. He was just being nice.

Just then, someone else came into the room.

"Hyo? Someone here?"

It was a tall slender man with short wispy brown hair, he wore a black suit with a blue shirt. He looked quite cute.

He then turned and looked at me.

"Whoops… sorry." He said. "This your girlfriend?"

"Mm. Not yet, I'm afraid." Hyosuke said.

"Not yet?" I questioned.

"Sorry, should I not make jokes right now?" he said and looked at me. "This is Faye, she works at the museum."

"I'm sorry, I know it's late." I said.

The other guy didn't seem especially surprised to see me here, even though something clearly was wrong.

"Faye, this is my big brother Taiga." Hyosuke said.

"Nice to meet you." Taiga said.

He didn't look that concerned with me being here, which probably was a good thing.

"Taiga, Faye's hurt. Can you take a look?" Hyosuke said. "He's a doctor by the way."

"Oh really?" I said.

That explained a lot, is that how they could afford to live in such a big house?

Hyosuke noticed how I was looking around the room and is quick to say…

"It's nice that you're so interested in our home. But first, how did you get so drenched?"

"And with cuts and blisters on your hands and feet." Taiga said.

They both looked at me inquisitively.

"Uh… well… I uh…"

"I suggested you had a fight with your boyfriend when I found you. You seemed upset. But I'm not stupid, that's obviously not it. If you tell me, I'll do what I can to help you. So, what'll it be? If you want help, you're going to have to say it." Hyosuke said.

He looked down at me and sat in the chair next to me, looking me directly in the eyes.

Something wasn't right here, they both were too calm. They didn't seem surprised to see me drenched, something about them felt amiss. If I ran away now, it would just look more suspicious. I needed to act normal and then try to leave.

Plus if he told the museum that I was a thief, I would lose my job.

"Hey, are you even listening? Things are this bad, yet you're deep in thought. You're pretty brave." He said with an odd grin on his face.

"There's nothing wrong. I just got separated from my friend. We were out walking and tried to get shelter from the rain and ended up getting separated. That's all." I said.

"Really? And what about your friends?" he asked.

"Friends?"

"Yeah, you and your friends must have really upset the prime minister for him to go after you." He said.

I froze and stared at him. He knew about the Black Foxes?

"I – uh don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh Really? You're a pretty bad liar Faye." He said.

"Hyosuke, drop it." Taiga said.

"What? But why?" Hyosuke asked.

There was an amused smile playing on Hyosuke's lips, but his brother stood there looking serious.

"It doesn't matter how many times you ask, she won't tell you. Not when, she's one of the Black Foxes." Taiga said.

He knew as well? Come to think of it, it was odd that I met Hyosuke just like that, in the middle of the night. Someone at work did tell me that Hyosuke use to be a secret agent, what if he only started working at the museum to spy on me and that's how the government found us?

But if he or his brother really were working for the prime minister, they wouldn't have brought me to their home. They would have just handed me over.

"Who are you? What do you want with me? Are you working for the government?" I asked.

"I don't know what happened, but we're not people you should fear." Taiga said.

"So, you've run into trouble with the government? What a dynamic person you are. Ahahaha." Hysouke laughed. "Let me see if I can guess what happened. You were being chased, got separated from your friends and wound up alone in the rain." Hyosuke said.

I straightened myself up and kept a neutral expression on my face.

"What makes you think I'm a Black Fox? Do you have any evidence to say that I am?" I asked.

"Don't be scared. We heard rumours from the black market, occupational hazard." Taiga said.

"But if you have no evidence, how do you I'm a Black Fox?" I asked and glared at them.

"Before you start worrying about other people, let's take care of those cuts." Hyosuke said, still smiling at me.

"Why are you helping me? What are you after?" I asked.

"Well, I wouldn't be much of a gentleman if I didn't help a damsel in distress would I?" he said.

That wasn't much of an answer.

I noticed Taiga leaving the room, I watched as he left but then I looked back at Hyosuke.

"Oh, your hot chocolate is cold, I'll make another. And while I do, you better be changing into dry clothes. Or, you can stay like that if you feel like catching a cold."

He took my cup and left the room, he then stopped by the door.

"Don't go anywhere, or I'll never forgive you… kidding!"

With that, he then left the room with a mysterious smile on his face.

I changed my clothes and happily sipped my new hot chocolate.

"It's pretty late, stay the night." Hyosuke said.

"Uh I can't. Thanks for everything, but I really need to go." I said.

"In this weather? Go for it." He said and laughed.

Just then, Taiga came back in with a first aid kit.

He knelt down in front of me and looked over my feet and hands.

"It's not so bad. Wash the cuts and apply some vitamin E, you'll be fine." He said.

He left the first aid kit open before leaving the room.

I reached down to get an anti-septic wipe when Hyosuke beat me to it.

"Don't worry about it, let me." He said.

"No, I can do it myself." I said and snatched the wipe from him.

I held up my foot and started to wipe away the blood, the blisters didn't look too bad.

"You're very stubborn aren't you?" he noted.

"Yep." I said as I continued.

"So, I was thinking you could sleep in my room and I'll sleep in the living room on the sofa, ok?"

"No, I can't kick you out of your own bed." I said.

"It's not up for discussion. I'll go and get it ready for you." He said and left the room.

I finished sorting out my feet and hands and then cleaned away the supplies. I wondered how the others were. I hoped Riki was ok, I had left him alone with all those soldiers. I'm a horrible person, I should have stayed with him.

A strong wind howled on and off, rattling the glass windows. It was raining harder now.

Soon, Hyosuke was back holding three cups of instant noodles.

"This is all I have." He said and handed me a cup.

"Thanks." I said and took the cup.

I was starving. I looked at the cup, was it safe to eat?

"What are you waiting for? It's not poisoned or anything. I mean think about it, poisoning you in my own house… just think about all the clean-up it would take."

I continued to stare at the noodles.

"You shouldn't wait too long. The noodles will get soft and gross. I'll try it if it makes you feel better?" he suggested.

Using his chopsticks, he took out a few noodles and ate a mouthful.

"Satisfied?"

I nodded and started to eat.

Taiga then came back.

"Oh, hey. Sorry, I'm late with dinner. I didn't really have time, so it's instant noodles again… that ok?" Hysouke said.

"It's fine." Taiga said.

He then sat down next to me and without hesitating, reached for the one called "Black Kitsune."

"Hey, that's mine. Besides, you ate my 'white tanuki' the other day." Hyosuke said.

"Did I? Sorry. I'll buy you a case." Taiga said.

Even though Taiga's manners are cold, Hyosuke shows him a smile. They were really close.

"I'll boil you some water." Hyosuke said.

"I already did." Taiga said.

"You did? I'm not used to you being so thoughtful. We should have cute girls over more often." Hyosuke teased making Taiga blushed.

He poured boiling water into his cup before he left the room.

I continued eating, I was starving.

"Oh, I meant to tell you… I found your friends." Hyosuke said.

"What? You know where they are?" I asked.

"Yup."

How did he know that? When did he even have time to look for them?

"Don't look so scared. I thought you might be a thief when I found out that you're the great-granddaughter of the Japanese Leonardo Da Vinci."

My family history was never made public, how did he know?

"You shouldn't be surprised. How many times have you been kidnapped at this point? It's not hard to find out with a little research."

He set his chopsticks on top of his cup and wiped his mouth.

"I know I don't look it, but I am in the security business. You Black Foxes are breaking into some of the best security systems around the world. It's my job to verify the tricks you used to break in and take measurements to ensure it doesn't happen again."

So is that how he knew about us?

"The works targets by the Black Foxes have mainly been works by the Japanese da Vinci. By chance, I noticed that you were in and out of the bar an awful lot. Especially for someone who I was pretty sure didn't have a boyfriend. Who wouldn't find that suspicious? It's not like I'm after you guys. You can relax, I'm only interested in you." He said.

I always figured it looked like everyone was just my buddies at the local bar, I know that my neighbours and even Ranko would accept that. Had I gotten too used to being a thief and was careless.

"So? Don't you want to know where your friends are?" he asked.

"Are they safe? Where are they?" I asked.

He then looked at me dubiously.

"How come you're so worried about them when you yourself were in danger?" he asked.

"They're my friends. Of course I would be worried about them, I'd do anything for them." I said.

"You're… an even better person than I imagined. Anyway, I fixed these for you." He said and handed me a pair of earrings.

My transceivers! I reached up to my ears, they were gone. How did he get them? And how did he even find time to fix them?

"They were wet, so I took them apart and fixed them. They should work, call your friends if you want." He said

I turned on the transceiver.

"Hello? Anyone there?" I said.

"Faye?!"

"Riki!"

"Are you alright? Faye, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you back there."

He sounded really upset.

"It's ok, I'm fine honestly." I said.

"So, where are you now?"

"Um… A friend found me. I'm staying with the new security guy I told you about, my co-worker. I'm at his house. It's that big house just past the shops. Is everyone ok?"

I looked over at Hyosuke, he was cleaning up and didn't seem to be interested in our conversation.

"We're all here. But you need to watch your back."

"Oh don't worry, I will."

"You need to get out of there as soon as you can and hey, tomorrow's Wednesday."

That's right, the mission.

"We're meeting at the bar after closing, same as always. Be there." he said before he hung up.

I sighed with relief, they were all ok. That's good. Especially Riki, I was so worried. I couldn't help but smile.

"How's your boyfriend?" Hyosuke asked as he sat down next to me.

"I don't have a boyfriend." I said.

"Then what's tomorrow?" he asked.

So he was listening.

"Are you going on a date with all of them?" he asked.

"That is none of your business." I said.

"I'll go with you. You know, in case someone scary finds you. Aaaand. I want to announce myself to your friends as a boyfriend candidate." He said.

He wasn't serious? I couldn't let him follow me, we had a mission to complete.

"You don't have to. We're just going to my apartment to hang out, I'll be fine." I said.

"All joking aside. How would you handle it if someone targeted you while you were on your way there? I know all the streets, if you're with me I can help you make a run for it, if you have to." He said.

"No you don't need to, I can look after myself and besides, I might not even meet up with the guys. Depends how I feel." I said.

"Oh, really? So that means that even if I followed you in secret all day tomorrow, I wouldn't see those guys." He said.

"Ok fine, you can drop me off home. Ok?" I offered.

"Yay!" he beamed.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next morning, Hyosuke gave me a lift back to my apartment.

"So, this is my apartment. Thank you." I said.

We were stood outside my front door, I opened it and showed him that my room was empty.

"You live here? Nice. Where are your friends?" he asked.

I shrugged "I told them not to come. I want to rest and not deal with them. They can be very loud and annoying." I said.

He just smiled at me.

"See you later, Miss Black Fox." He said before he walked off.

I went straight up to my apartment. I locked the door and sighed, things were getting complicated. What was I going to do about Hyosuke?

I had a nice hot shower and spent most of the day relaxing in bed.

I was sat on my bed drinking a cup of tea when my mobile rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Faye."

"Hyosuke? What do you want?" I asked.

"Just wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm fine. What do you want?" I asked again.

"Well, I'm currently stood at the back gate of the Prime minister's residence." He said.

"What? Why?"

"Just felt like taking a walk. Well, I'll see you later." He said and hung up.

Oh no, that's where the mission was going to be. If Hyosuke caught them, god knows what he'd do. I needed to stop him and take him away before the guys got there. I got changed and got there as quickly as I could. As I walked along the street, I could see him stood by the big black gate.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Took you long enough. What were you doing?" he asked.

The guys didn't seem to be here yet, which was good.

"You shouldn't be here. You need to leave." I said.

Within seconds, I heard a clicking sound and the gate unlocked.

"See that? It's open. Where are you friends?" he asked.

Did he open that?

"We need to leave, if we stay here we could get arrested." I said and tried to pull him away.

"No we won't. So, should we go in or do you want to wait? I haven't been to the prime minister's residence in a while, should be fine." He said carelessly.

"I-uh. We need to leave. We can't just break in, that's illegal. Please." I begged and tried pulled him again but he wouldn't budge.

"It's ok, I've been here a bunch of times."

"What is wrong with you? We need to get out of here, it's not a game!"

He then looked dead serious and stared at me.

"I know it's not a game. But since we're here, wanna play hide and seek?"

"What?" I gasped.

"Ready? I'll go first, I'll hide. You have to find me, ok? Count to ten before you come looking."

"Hey wait, what are you-"

He completely ignored me and ran through the gate into the garden. I stood there unsure of what to do. What was he up to? What was he after? I turned on my transceiver.

"It's Faye."

"Faye? Everything ok? What's up?" Boss said.

"Where are you?"

"There was an accident on the throughway. We're taking a detour." He said.

"I'm at the president's residence. But we have a problem, my co-worker is here and he snuck into the garden." I said.

They were all speechless.

"The security guy?" Riki asked.

"Yes."

"We can only get in there tonight. We won't get another chance. Grab him and get him out of there before we get there." He said.

"If you go inside before we do, we meet in the room." Boss said.

"Takuto, give her remote support." Riki said.

"Ok." Takuto said. "Don't worry about the place's security, get in there and do your thing."

"Thank you!"

I made my way through the gate. As I went deeper into the garden, I saw Hyosuke stood by a pond fooling around with the koi fish.

"Hyosuke, what are you doing?!" I shouted and stopped next to him.

"Hey, finally. Took you an awful long time to find me." He said and laughed.

Was this seriously only a game to him? How could he be so calm?

"Come on, I want to look over there." He said and started running again.

"Ugh! Hey! Come back!" I shouted and tried to run after him.

He was really fast.

"Hey wait! There's an electrical current running through the wall ahead of you." Takuto said.

"What?"

Hyosuke doesn't know that and he was running right for it.

"Hyosuke no!"

"Takuto, you have to turn the electricity off!" Riki said.

"That's what I'm trying to do!" Takuto shouted back.

All I could do as watch but then, Hyosuke nimbly jumped over the wall like it was nothing even though it was taller than he was.

"Who is this guy?"

He was as agile as Boss and Kenny, maybe even more so.

"Hey, what's going on? Is it over?" Riki asked.

"No… Takuto must have disabled the security."

"No I didn't." Takuto snapped, sounding like he was in a foul mood.

"Say what now?" Boss said.

"I'm telling you, I didn't do a damn thing." Takuto said.

"But I just watched Hyosuke jump over the wall and not get zapped." I said before approached the wall.

I grabbed the top and managed to pull myself up and over. I sat on the top and saw Hyosuke stood on the other side of the wall, smiling up at me.

"Sorry, I want to give you a hand but… then our game of hide and seek would be over." He said.

If Takuto didn't disable the wall, then who did?

"Maybe there wasn't electricity running through the wall?" I suggested.

"There was. This has been happening this whole time. Somebody's getting to the security systems before me." Takuto said.

I looked down at Hyosuke, could it be him? The moment I jumped off the wall, he ran off again.

"Faye, we're here." Hiro said.

"We'll catch up with you soon, don't worry." Kenny said.

At last! I couldn't take this guy anymore.

"Hey, over here." Hysouke said and waved before he entered the building.

Crap!

"Guys, we're going inside." I said.

I followed him in and found him hiding behind the door.

"Aw, you got me. You take forever. So, no more hide and seek?"

"I wasn't playing in the first place. We need to leave, now." I said and grabbed his arm.

"If you wanted to hold hands, all you had to do was ask. And besides, don't you think it's a little dangerous to just hang around here out in the open? Someone could see us." He said before he started dragging me along.

We came into a kitchen, Hyosuke let go of my hand and ran ahead. From then on, he was on top off all the traps and security systems. He was disabling them as necessary and make sure it was safe before calling for me.

"Now that we're all the way here, you think you can tell me what you're all looking for? Don't and I'll scream." He said with a serious expression.

"I'm looking for you. We need to leave, please."

This guy was impossible.

He then took a deep a breath, I quickly clamped my hand over his mouth.

"Don't. Please." I whispered. "I'll tell you. The prime minister is involved in buying and selling black market artwork. We've been asked by someone to come here and quietly take care of it." I said.

I removed my hand, he had a big smile on his face.

"Ha. Knew you were a Black Fox! But I didn't know thieves did that kind of thing." He said.

Did he do all this so I would confess what I was?

"We need to go to the room on the second floor and confiscate the evidence and then accuses him." I explained.

"I see. So, to the second floor?"

"What? No. We need to wait for the others." I said.

"We'll be fine and anyway, there's no time. He always leaves the official residence for his private home before midnight."

"He does?" I asked.

"What, you didn't know? Saying he lives here is just an official thing. He doesn't actually live here."

How did he know that? Was I safe being here with him?

We both went up to the second floor and found the painting.

"One frame… two paintings." Hyosuke said as he lifted the painting off the wall.

"Yeah, the one on the back is the one we were looking for." I said.

"Wow, things like this really happen. So, there's actually a rightful owner?"

"Of course, everything here was stolen." I said.

"The leader of our own country, deceiving people to line his own pocket. Interesting." He said with a stern look on his face.

Just then, the others came into the room.

"Faye. You ok?" Boss asked as they all ran in.

"Are you hurt?" Riki asked and came over to me.

He stood in front of me, looking like he wasn't sure if he should touch me or not. I was so happy to see him I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight.

"I'm fine, a few scratches." I said.

He hugged me back before we parted.

His face darkened "I'm so sorry Faye, it's all my fault."

"No it's not. It's the prime minister's fault." I said.

"You're right. I'm just glad you're ok." He said and smiled at me.

"Um… an emotional reunion is nice and all, but do you really have time for that?" Hyosuke asked.

Everyone turned and looked at him.

"You're the guy who got in the way of my hack!" Takuto hissed.

"Wow, you're so blond. It doesn't damage your hair? How often do you go to the salon?" Hyosuke asked and reached to touch his hair.

"Ack! Don't touch me jerk." Takuto shouted.

Hyosuke looked so calm, even though all the guys were here.

"I don't know what you're trying to do, but don't get in our way. Got it?" Riki said.

"No thank you for helping Faye? The Black Foxes are rather rude." Hyosuke said.

"What was that?!" Riki shouted.

"Ok ok, the guy's right. You.. what's your name?" Boss asked.

"Hyosuke Kujo." I said.

"Ha? Cujo? Looks more like a kitten to me." Hiro laughed.

Hyosuke clearly irritated ignored Hiro.

"The Black Foxes have such a cute little guy on the team, who knew?"

"What the hell!" Hiro hissed.

I had never seen Hiro look angry before.

"Ok Hiro, that's enough. This isn't the place for that." Kenny said.

"Faye, did you obtain the evidence?" Riki asked.

"Yeah, it was exactly where we thought it'd be." I said.

I showed them the genuine masterpiece hidden under the dummy painting.

"Alright, you ready?" Boss asked.

"Yeah, be careful." Riki said.

We headed straight into the Prime minister's office. I expected there to be some big scene in his office, but when we threw the evidence at him, he promptly acknowledged his guilt.

"I'm sorry. Forgive me. I'm being threatened." He said.

"You can make all the excuses you want. You're still guilty." Riki said.

The prime minister's shoulders drop.

"Why'd you try to kill us?" Boss asked.

"I know if you found out, my position would be threatened… so.."

"So you used the military on us? What the hell!" Hiro shouted.

All of their faces were filled with anger. Riki was getting ready to started shouting when someone cried out.

"Give me a break. Do you have any idea how painful it is to be separated from the people in your life!" Hysouke cried out.

We all turned to look at him, surprised by how different he is now from before.

"Hey, you're actually really passionate." Kenshi said.

Hysouke didn't reply but then there was a knock at the door. A sleepy-looking fellow opened the door.

"Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department." A man said before entering the room. "We need to talk."

"Goddammit." The prime minister sneered.

"Your excellency, could you come with me please?" the policeman said.

It was Chief Fujiok, he was the one who asked us to do this. The riot police squad quickly rushed into the room and they took the prime minister away.

"There, that's settled. And no one should be chasing us anymore, either." Boss said with a big smile on his face.

This was finally over, I could go back to my apartment and get some rest. As we stood there, I heard Hyosuke whisper in my ear.

"I'll no doubt see you again, Miss Black Fox."

I turned around to confront him but he was already gone.

"Let's go." Riki said and we all left the prime minister's house.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

We all left the house and got into the van, Boss started the engine and we drove away. I leaned back and rested my head on the wall. I could finally go home and relax, I felt exhausted.

"Are you ok Faye? You look pale." Hiro said.

"I'm fine, I'm just tired." I said.

"Maybe you should stay at LRN. I could take a look at you if you want." Kenny offered.

"I'm fine, like I said I just got a few scratches. I just want my bed." I said.

"Faye, we can't take you home like this." Riki said.

I sat up and looked at them. I know they were only being nice but it was so annoying.

"I'm fine, I want to go home." I said.

"Well, we're not going to take you home. You can stay at LRN, that's an order." Riki said.

"Whatever." I said and leaned back.

When we reached the LRN not long after. I jumped out of the van and walked into the bar.

"Faye, you can have my room." Riki said.

"Kenny, maybe you should check her over." Boss said.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just going to bed." I said and went straight upstairs.

I climbed into Riki's bed and the moment my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.

The next morning, I was woken up by the smell of tea and cooked food. I opened my eyes and saw Riki coming into the room, holding a tray full of food.

"Morning." He said and placed the tray next to me on the bed.

"Mm. Hey." I said still half asleep.

I made sure I had the duvet over me as I sat up.

"What's all this about?" I asked.

There was soup, bread and tea on the tray. It smelt good.

"Breakfast. Try and eat it all if you can." He said.

I smiled and reached out and grabbed Riki's hand. "Riki, you don't need to do this. I'm fine, I know you're probably feeling guilty but you don't need to do this."

"Yes I do, I'm your leader. It's my job to look after you and make sure you're safe. This is the least I can do." He then pulled his hand away. "Rest up for today, Takuto and Boss will be here if you need anything. I don't want you to move from this bed. Understand?"

"Riki. I'm not dying."

"I don't want you to move from this bed, understand?" he said but more firmly.

"Fine. I won't move from this bed." I said.

I had my fingers crossed behind my back as I spoke.

"Good, I rung your work and told them that you wouldn't be in for a few days and I got Kenny to get a few things from your apartment. I won't let you leave LRN till you're better."

I exclaimed before shaking my head. He really was taking things a bit far.

"I'll see you tonight." He said and left the room.

I happily ate the soup and the bread. I then had a shower, before I got changed into some of Riki's sweats and then I went downstairs.

"Hey. Riki said you weren't allowed to leave his room." Takuto hissed the moment I stepped into the bar.

He was sat in his normal seat eating pork noodles.

"Riki aint the boss of me and besides, I'm bored upstairs." I said and sat next to him.

"Hey Faye, how are you feeling?" Boss asked.

"Fine. May I please have a cup of tea?" I asked.

Boss nodded and came back almost instantly and placed a cup down in front of me.

"After that, go back to bed." Takuto said.

"Make me." I said and poked my tongue out at him.

He sneered at me and then looked at Boss for support.

"I'm sure it's fine Takkun. As long as she doesn't over do it." Boss said and smiled at me.

"Thanks." I said.

Takuto mumbled to himself before he stormed off upstairs.

"What's his problem?" I asked.

"He's just worried about you, we all are. You've been through a lot these past few weeks."

"I guess but It'll all be fine." I said.

"I love your optimism." He said and laughed.

Takuto returned and placed my sketch book and a pack of new pencils in front of me.

"You haven't drawn anything in a while. Kenny told me to give it to you when you woke up." He said.

I smiled and held the book up to my chest.

"Thanks. Since you're here, you can be my first model." I said.

He sighed and grumbled but he stayed in his chair and allowed me to draw him. I draw Boss next and then drew bar.

A few hours later, Kenny and Hiro came in.

"Hey Faye, how you doing?" Hiro asked.

"I'm fine, how are you? Shouldn't you be in college?" I asked.

"Nope, finished for the day." He said.

"Hey, you're looking better. I see Takuto gave you your sketch book." Kenny said.

"Yeah, wanna see what I've been drawing?" I said and gave them my book.

They both laughed.

"You're getting really good at drawing Takuto's glare." Hiro laughed.

"Shut up." Takuto shouted and tried to grab my sketch book.

"Hey, that's Faye's. No one gets to change it without her permission." Kenny said and held it high in the air so Takuto couldn't reach it.

I giggled "Thanks Kenny. Would you guys like to model for me?" I asked.

They both agreed. I had them sit next to each other by a table and started drawing them.

"I've never seen you smile more than when you're drawing." Boss stated.

"Oh really?" I asked.

"Yeah. You should quit the museum and come to art college with me." Hiro said.

"Hm, as if she could ever be able to complete college." Takuto said.

"Now now Takkun, don't be mean to Faye." Boss said.

"It's ok Boss, I know Takuto's just pouting because he jealous that he can't draw." I said.

"As if I'd ever want to draw." Takuto hissed.

Kenny and Hiro just laughed.

"But seriously Faye, you're really good at drawing. It's a gift." Kenny said.

"Thanks." I said and smiled back at him.

I finished drawing them and showed them the picture, they both approved and we all sat around a table and started drinking together.

The door opened and Riki walked in, the moment he saw me he glared at Takuto and Boss.

"I thought I told you to keep her in bed?"

"She wouldn't do as she was told." Takuto said.

"And she was fine, we kept an eye on her. She's been drawing all day." Boss said and pointed to my almost full sketch book.

"I even drew you." I said and opened it and showed him a picture. "I drew it from memory."

He briefly glanced at the picture before glaring at me.

"You need to rest, get back upstairs."

"No. I want to stay down here and besides, I'm fine. Chill." I said and turned my back to him.

"Relax Riki, join us for a drink." Hiro said and pulled out a chair for him.

Riki sighed and sat next him, Boss then brought him over a drink.

"You're too stubborn Faye." Riki said.

"Why thank you." I said and grinned at him.

"That wasn't a compliment." He said harshly but I kept smiling at him.

On my next day off, I headed to Kujo's place, I felt like I needed to thank Hyosuke for what he did.

We kept missing each other at work. I still didn't trust him but he helped me and he seemed to have kept our secrete so I needed to do something.

I was stood outside his huge house, I didn't even know if he was in. I was holding a bag from the grocery store. I walked through the front gate and pushed the button the intercom by the door.

"Yes?" Hysouke answered.

"Hi, it's Faye." I said.

After a brief silence, I heard some noise and then he opened the door. He looked surprised.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sorry to just drop by like this. I wanted to thank you for the day. Am I bothering you?" I asked.

"No, you're not. I just really wasn't expecting you. I'm a little… no, a lot surprised." He said.

"Well, I wanted to thank you." I said.

"You don't have to thank me. Anyway, don't stand there. Come inside. Taiga's not here today, I was just going to have lunch." He said.

He was very welcoming as he let me into the living room. As I walked into the room, a grey cat rubbed against my feet. It's fur looked almost silver.

"It's so pretty, a silver cat." I said.

"She's called Stone." He said.

"Stone? Really?"

"Why?" he asked.

That was my name. Weird.

"She's so pretty."

I pet the cat on the back making her purr.

"I thought she didn't like anyone except my brother." He said.

"Really? Um question, why did her name her Stone?" I asked.

"A kid in my neighbourhood moved and gave her to us. She came with a name." he said.

"Oh, fair enough." I said.

The cat then moved over to her bowl and meowed loudly.

"Oh man. He told me to give her food when I woke up but I forgot. Sorrry." He said.

He went to a cupboard and got out cat food.

"I'm getting it for ya. One second. Stone, come here." He said.

I looked at the cat, she didn't move to Hyosuke calling her name.

"This again. She loves Taigi, though."

He poured the food into the bowel.

"See that? it's salmon flavoured, you're favourite."

He then put a piece of food in his hand, crouched down and held in front of her face.

The cat murmured and walked off.

"Hahah. I think she dumped you." I said.

"Ugh, this is awful. Maybe girls named Stone just won't like me?" he said and looked up at me, with a mischievous look on his face.

What was he doing? I ignored him and placed a piece of food on my hand and crouched down.

"Stone, I have food for you. It looks good."

The cat walked up to me and held out a paw. She sniffed my hand before she knocked the food onto the floor and started to eat it.

"Good girl."

Meow!

"Awww!"

I went to get another piece of food, but Hyosuke seemed annoyed, and took the food from my hand.

"It's my turn."

"You sure? She prefers me over you." I said.

"Sorry, but stone's our cat." He said.

He stopped down and looked at her in the eyes. He dangled the food in front of her before holding it out to her.

"Look…. It's yummy."

But the cat turned away coldly and started rubbing against my legs as I sit on the floor.

"Seriously? Again?" he said.

"Haha. Cats don't like people who tease." I said.

"Who teases?"

"You." I said.

"It's how I show affection." He said.

"Well obviously, Stone doesn't like." I said.

"Anyway, it's after noon now. Want to have lunch with me?" he asked.

"Sure." I said.

He stood up and picked up a couple of cups of noodles.

"Do you want curry or seafood?" he asked.

Urg, instant noodles again?

"Sorry, you don't want instant noodles? It's all I have." He said.

"No, no." I said and then handed him the grocery bag.

"You said the other day you didn't have time to go shopping, so I brought some groceries to thank you. I can make us something if you like?" I said.

He then fell silent. Did I do something wrong?

"Really?" he asked.

"Uh yeah, but only if you want to." I said.

"Thank you. I get to try your cooking? This is great!" his eyes sparkled like a little boy and he shook my hand.

"I haven't had a home-cooked meal in forever. What're you gonna make?"

"Um…. How about an omelette?"

Hyosuke looked even happier.

"I love omelettes. Can you like, draw a face on it with ketchup?" he said.

"What, are you a child?" I said.

"You didn't draw faces growing up?"

"Uh… no really. But at Le Renard Noir, they draw hearts. Boss always writes the customer's name or a message." I said.

"Ok, once they're done, why don't we write messages to each other?" he said.

"Sure."

I started preparing the food in the kitchen. While I was cooking, Hyosuke is peeking at the frying pan from behind me.

"Wow, you're good at this." He said.

"I've learned some things from helping Boss. All of those guys are good at cooking, actually." I said.

Well, not Takuto.

"You're not what I expected." He said.

"What do you mean?" I turned around and saw a gentle smile on his face.

"Well, you're the only girl in the group. I thought you'd be spoiled, getting attention from a group of cute guys." He said.

"Oh, no. I'm more like their little sister." I said.

Well, maybe except for Riki? Riki was amazing, even when I thought of him my heart to pound.

Hyosuke then mumbled. "She doesn't get guys…" under his breath.

I ignored him and continued cooking.

"They're ready." I said and placed the omelette's on the table.

"Wow, they smell so good." He said.

We sat down and started writing our messages to each other.

"Done."

"Me, too. Here you go." I said.

My message to Hyosuke was, Hyosuke's portrait.

"Uh… what is it? An oger?"

"Uh no. It's you."

Ok, maybe I used too much ketchup? Hyosuke sat motionless without saying anything.

"Ooh. I get it… it's like a Picasso?"

"What, no! Anyway, what did you write?"

I snatched my Omelette from him and saw a big heart on it.

"Oh, because I told you about Boss? You're trying to butter me up?"

"No. It's a message from me to you. I figure if you eat it, you might fall in love with me." He said.

"Hm, yeah right." I said and started eating my omelette.

He only took two bites before he stopped.

"You don't like it?" I asked.

My voice apparently startled him back to reality and he had his usual smile back on his face.

"It's so good, I zoned out for a second." He said.

"Oh, ok. Cool." I said.

"It kinda reminds me… of the omelettes my mum made." He said.

There was a sad look in his eyes. He said it was just the two of them in this house, maybe his parents had passed away?


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A week later, things seemed to finally getting back to normal. I was back at work, since our lunch together I hadn't seen Hyosuke. Someone told me that he was on holiday, apparently. I really deserved a holiday.

I was sat in my apartment watching TV, there was a special program about hot springs. Perfect for the autumn weather.

"Hot springs, that sounds so great right about now." I said to myself.

A message then appeared on the screen announcing a phone number to enter a viewer giveaway.

Wish I could enter, but I'd never win so I didn't see the point.

My front door bell then rung. I got up and answered the door but there was no one there. I stepped out into the hallway and looked left and right, it was empty.

I bet it was one of my neighbours playing a prank or something. I turned around to go back in when I noticed a white envelope stuck in my mail slot. I picked it up and opened it.

"I'm coming to steal you away for a hot springs trip tonight." I read.

"What the hell?"

I went back inside my apartment and looked back at the TV. This couldn't be coincidence, I bet the guys were behind this. This had to be some kind of prank.

On the TV, they announced the winner.

"And the winner tonight is…. Faye Stone from Tokyo!"

"Huh?"

"I hope you're watching Faye." the host said.

I stared at the TV and then at the letter, I didn't even enter so it had to be them. I tried to ring the bar but it was busy. It would just be easier if I went there. I got changed and headed straight for the bar.

I opened the door to the bar.

"Oh Faye. We've been waiting for you." Boss said.

"Congratulations on the hot springs trip." Kenny said.

"The TV station called to confirm." Riki said.

"I answered for you." Hiro beamed.

I folded my arms "I knew you guys were behind this."

"You took long enough to get here. I've been back here forever." Takuto said.

"Takuto went to go get you but he came back without you." Riki said.

"It's just like him to play dirty." Hiro said.

"I just went to drop off the letter." Takuto said.

"Wouldn't you normally just bring her back with you?" Kenny asked.

Takuto didn't answer.

"Takkun can be a real airhead sometimes." Hiro said.

"Shut up." Takuto hissed.

"Ok enough. Would someone mind explaining what's going on. Now." I ordered.

I looked over at Boss who was just smiling at me.

"Ok, just sit down." He said. "Remember how we were talking about all going on a hot springs trip?"

"So we wanted to surprise you with it." Hiro said.

"We're so kind, we entered your name for you. Get it?" Riki said.

"So… I just happened to win the trip? Fair and square?" I asked and looked at Takuto.

"Idiot. You think a miracle like that would ever happen?" he said.

"I knew it. You did something." I said and glared at his laptop.

"Who cares? Chalk it up to winning because of talent." Riki said.

"You'll be able to soak all of your cares away. Just enjoy it." Kenny said.

"Yeah. We'll make it a business trip so everyone can enjoy the hot springs together. And thanks to Faye, it'll be a free trip. Hahaha." Boss said and laughed.

I couldn't really complain, it was a free holiday. This is just what I needed.

"Fine, let's do this." I said.

"Yay!" Hiro cheered.

"We do have two problems. The station has already set the date of the trip." Boss said.

"So can you take off work next Saturday and Sunday?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah, that'll be fine." I said.

"And we can only reserve three rooms with two people in each, right? So who's room you going to stay in, Faye?" Hiro said.

"That's right, you'll have to stay with one of us on the trip." Boss said.

Seriously? I knew there'd be a catch.

"Why are you even hesitating? Spoilt for choice?" Riki said with his normal smug smile.

I sighed and shook my head, they were so annoying. But who to choose? It would either be Riki or Kenny, since I was closest to them. I don't think Kenny would try anything if I went with him, Riki was a constant a flirt and I knew he would probably try something when we were alone.

"Kenny." I said.

"Ha! I knew you'd choose me." he beamed and smiled proudly before he ruffled my hair.

"Hey, get off." I said and pushed his hand away.

"Why'd you choose him Faye?" Hiro asked.

"Yeah, wouldn't you rather be with me?" Riki asked giving me a sexy smile.

"It's not up for discussion. Anyway, it's late so I'm going home. I'll see you guys later." I said and left the bar before they started another argument.

It was the day of the trip. Everyone met at the LRN and we decided who was going to sit where in the van.

"I can't believe we have to ride this beat-up van all the way there." Takuto grumbled.

"Unfortunately bullet train tickets weren't included in the prize. Plus there's a lot of us going. We'll save money and we'll have fun. We'll be in Atami in no time." Boss beamed.

"I brought snacks." Hiro said.

"Oh, you came prepared." Kenny said.

"This is going to be so much fun." I said and jumped up and down.

"Look at Faye, she's like a little kid." Hiro laughed.

"C'mon everyone. Let's go." Boss said. "Don't forget your bags."

"So who's driving?" Riki asked.

"Let's make it fair and decide by rock, paper, scissors." Hiro said.

"Since she's not familiar with the roads up there, Faye doesn't have to drive." Boss said.

"Yes! Uh I mean, thanks." I said.

"I won't do it either." Takuto said.

"Nice try." Riki said.

They all stood in a circle and held out closed fists.

"All right. Let's go, Rock, paper.. Scissors!" Boss said.

Everyone but Takuto put up paper, and he was the only one holding rock.

"Hang on a second. You guys rigged this." he shouted angrily.

"Ok everyone, let's climb in the van." Boss said.

"I get the back." Hiro said and jumped in.

"C'mon Hiro, scoot over." Kenny said.

Everyone ignored Takuto's protest and got into the van. I went to passenger seat when Riki pushed me aside.

"Out of the way Faye. Unlike all of you, I'm tired from work. I'm tired, it's too noisy back there so let me sleep in the passenger seat." He said before he climbed in.

Whatever.

I climbed into the back with the others and sat next to the window, I wanted a good look outside.

I felt sorry for Takuto, but oh well. I was so excited, this was going to be so much fun!

Reluctantly, Takuto started to drive.

"Ahah! Are you serious? That's hilarious." Hiro laughed.

"I know, she looked so beautiful from the back." Boss said.

"I can't believe it turned out to be an ugly guy dressed in drag." Kenny laughed.

"Haha. I bet you weren't expecting that." I said.

On the way to Atami, Boss was entertaining us with some anecdotes.

"Faye, you can have some of my Tyrolean mushroom-shaped chocolates." Hiro said.

"Thanks." I said and helped myself.

"Better than just eating a banana for a snack right?" Kenny said and smiled.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"Hey guys, are you listening to me?" Boss asked.

"Nope." Hiro laughed.

"Look outside guys. The autumn leaves are so pretty." Kenny said.

I moved to the window.

"Wow, you're right." I said.

We drove through hilly roads, the scenery was so pretty. I wished we could stop so I could draw.

"What? Are you for real?" Hiro asked.

"Hilarious, right?" Boss said and they both started laughing.

As we approached a curve, the car suddenly lurched to the side and the tires squealed loudly.

"Whoa!"

"Takkun. It's too dangerous to drift in a van." Boss shouted.

"That's why you get for leaving me out." Takuto shouted back.

He did that because he felt left out? Oh my god, how childish could you get?

The tires squealed again.

"Where the hell did you learn that?" Kenny demanded.

"Oh yeah. Takkun was really good at Marimo Kart when we played it at the arcade." Hiro said.

"Seriously? That's where he got it from?" I asked.

"Don't underestimate my driving technique." Takuto bragged.

The car moved from side to side and the tyres squealed again.

"Wow!" Hiro cheered.

"Waah! Hey that's enough." Kenny shouted.

Even though the car was being flung from side to side, Riki was still asleep in the passenger's seat. How could he sleep through that?

We finally arrived at Atami, we decided to go sightseeing before we went to the Inn. I had my normal shoulder bag with me, I wanted nothing more than to draw. We were heading to Atami Castle.

"Ahh. My back hurts from sleeping in the van." Riki said.

"You sound like an old man." I laughed.

I then heard footsteps running up behind us, it was Boss.

"Rikiii! Will you take a picture of us over there?"

"Huh? All right then." Riki agreed and took Boss's camera from him.

"Can we go to that castle?" Kenny asked.

"Hang on, Boss wants me to take a picture." Riki said.

"Hey, Takkun. It looks pretty fun over there." Hiro pointed.

"Mmm. I smell pork noodles." Takuto said.

They both started to walk off.

"Hey! Everyone come over here so we can take a picture." Riki shouted.

"Come on." Boss said impatient.

Everyone seemed very excited.

"Hey, Kenshi where are you going?" Riki asked.

"The gift shop, call me when you're ready to go inside the castle." Kenny said and walked off.

"Pork noodles are calling me." Takuto said and he and Hiro walked off.

"Ooh, look at that. Let's go!" Hiro beamed.

"Riki, I'm really tired of making this peace sign." Boss said.

"Ahh, everyone's so damn loud." Riki said angrily.

I couldn't help but giggle, things were never boring with the guys around. Riki rounded them all up and dragged them over to one place.

"Tch. I feel like a principal or something…" he muttered.

"Heheh." I giggled.

"What are you laughing about?" he asked.

He pulled me towards him by the waist with a grumpy look on his face.

"It's just funny watching you guys." I said.

"What, watching me act like a teacher?"

"Yeah."

"There's no way I could take care of them all like this every day." He said.

He might be complaining but I bet he was enjoying himself.

"Oh no, Boss!" I said loudly and pointed.

"Damn it! Faye, keep everyone right here." Riki ordered.

Boss gave up getting his picture taken and he was now trying to photobomb some strangers from behind.

"Riki's got his hands full." Hiro laughed.

"No kidding, glad I'm not him. Hahah!" Kenny laughed.

"If you're so worried about me, then start acting right." Riki shouted as he chased after Boss.

After Riki caught Boss, Riki finally took a picture. We first went and got food as Takuto wanted pork noodles, we then headed to castle.

"Wow." I gasped.

It was so pretty.

I moved away from the group and found a good spot and started drawing the castle. It was so lovely.

"Faye, hurry up. Or we'll leave you behind." Riki said loudly.

"That's fine, you guys go on ahead. I'll catch you up." I said and continued drawing.

"No, we go as a group." Riki said firmly and grabbed my arm and started pulling me along.

Oh well, I could always come back tomorrow and finish drawing.

We arrived at the Inn 10 minutes later, we checked in and put our bags in our room.

At least there were two single beds in the room.

"Don't worry Faye, you'll be fine." Kenny said as if he could sense my nervousness.

"Oh I Know. Hence why I picked you." I said and smiled. "Anyway, we should go downstairs. Boss wanted us to meet at the lobby." I said and we left our room.

We met everyone downstairs.

"Where should we go first?" Hiro asked.

"Would you like to visit these hot springs that are registered as a world Heritage site?" the maid asked and handed us a pamphlet and some coupons.

"A spa you can enter while wearing your bathing suit. Sounds nice." Riki said.

"Sounds fun, let's go." Kenny said.

"Annoying. What kind of idiots stay at a hot spring resort and then go to a spa wearing their bathing suits?" Takuto asked.

"I don't even have a bathing suit." He said.

"Don't worry, you can rent one." Hiro said.

"Takuto, stop trying to get out of group activities." Riki said firmly.

"I'm not going, no matter what." He said firmly.

I wanted to go for a nice walk somewhere, the guys were still arguing. Maybe I could sneak off?

Moving quietly, I backed up till I came to exit and I ran out. I looked at the pamphlet, there was a map where you could hike along a path and look at the beautiful scenery. I followed the path, I first walked through a small wood.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The leaves were such beautiful colours, a mixture of brown, gold, orange and red. There were really beautiful. I then came to a lovely valley. I took a seat on the ground and started drawing.

Two hours later, I then came to an orange orchard. It was the end of the walk. I had seen so many beautiful things, I wish I could live here. I could draw to my heart's content. I walked through the orchard, the Inn was just up ahead.

The oranges all looked so delicious. I needed to pick some after I finished drawing. I sat down in front of a line of trees and started drawing the landscape. I had my headphones in and happily listened to music as I started to draw. Once I had finished drawing, I started to colour in the trees and the oranges.

"Hey Faye!" someone shouted.

I pulled my headphones out and saw Kenny running up towards me.

"Where have you been? We've been looking for you everywhere." He said.

"I went for a walk. Look."

I showed him my drawings.

"Very nice, but you shouldn't just run off."

"Well, you guys were taking forever to decide on what to do." I said and put my sketch book away.

"Instead of going back to the Inn, did you want to pick some oranges?" he asked.

"Sure." I agreed.

I left my bag on the floor and walked up to the nearest tree but he stopped me.

"You should cut the oranges off with clippers and leave one centimetre of the branch on." He said and handed me a pair of clippers.

"You sure know a lot about it." I said.

"Oh, it was in this brochure. I just read it." He said and pulled a leaflet out of his pocket.

"Oh." I said and nodded.

"The best tasting oranges are small, at the end of the branches and have dark colouring. Here's one. Look at this orange, Faye. It looks like it'll be good." He said and cut one off it's branch and handed it to me.

"Thanks." I said.

I peeled it and gave him a couple of slices before I ate some myself.

"Mm. It's really good." I said.

"Yeah it is good! I could eat these all day." he beamed.

I couldn't help but laugh, I was picking oranges with Kenny. This was weird but funny, he was such a nice guy to be with.

We continued to pick oranges when the others came running.

"There you are! So, Kenshi was hogging Faye all this time." Hiro said.

"Hey guys, took you long enough." I said and smiled at them.

"Where have you been?" Riki asked.

"I went for a walk and did some drawing. Want to see?" I said.

I showed them my sketch book and they all nodded in approval.

"They're good Faye but you can't just run off without telling us. We were worried." Boss said.

"Sorry, I won't do it again." I said.

"We were picking oranges. Here Faye, try some more." Kenny said.

I turned and he fed me one.

"Mm. This tastes way better than the ones I buy at the store." I said.

"I want to try to. Here, Faye try my orange." Hiro said and held one up to me.

I nodded and reached for it but he pulled it back.

"Nope. Open wide!" he said with a mischievous smile on his face.

I sighed but opened my mouth.

"How is it?" he asked.

"Really good." I said.

"I'm glad you like it." He said.

"What, is it feeding time for Faye?" Riki asked.

"Hey, don't talk about me like I'm an animal." I said.

"Here, try mine next." Riki said and forced a slice into my mouth.

"This one too." Takuto said.

"Hey!"

"Here you go Faye, say Ahhh!" Boss said.

They all started to force me pieces of orange. Kenny just burst out laughing.

"You look like a hamster with those cheeks, Faye!" he laughed.

"Keep eating Faye!" Hiro said.

"No! Enough!" I shouted and pushed them all away.

"What?" Hiro said.

"Coward." Takuto said.

"Booooring! I wanna keep playing." Hiro said, sounding like a child.

"What am I? A toy?" I said.

"Now I have to play with Takkun." Hiro said.

"Huh?" Takuto gasped.

"Take this!" Hiro shouted and squirted Takuto with his orange.

"Aaahh! What was that? Orange juice?"

"Take that and that and that!" Hiro kept shouting and kept squirting Takuto.

"Knock it off. You idiot!" Takuto shouted.

He picked up an orange and started to squirt back.

"Oooh. A counterattack." Hiro shouted.

They both then started to throw orange peels and squirt each other.

"Oh, looks like fun. I'm gonna join in." Kenny said.

"Can I do it too?" Boss asked and they both started to squirt each other.

"Whoever gets orange juice in their eye loses!" Hiro announced.

"I have smaller eyes than you, so I have the advantage." Kenny said.

I didn't really feel like getting covered in orange juice, so I stepped back and allowed them to continue. There was still so much area to cover, maybe I could sneak off and explore the hills and valleys more?

"I'm just gonna close my eyes." Takuto said.

"Times like this I'm glad I wear glasses." Boss said.

Riki didn't look too amused either.

"You guys are ridiculous." He muttered.

"Take this!" Hiro shouted and squirted Riki.

"Ahh! You idiot! Everyone get Hiro, that's an order for the leader!" Riki shouted.

"Roger!" Kenny replied and aimed his attack at Hiro.

"Waaah! Help me Faye." Hiro shouted.

I was tempted to stop them but it was just too funny to watch.

Afterwards, we all decided to go to the hot springs and wash off. I walked out onto the hot springs, I had a towel wrapped around my body. When I was close to the water, I dropped the towel and slipped into the hot water.

"Oh! This feels so good." I moaned and sunk to the bottom.

I stayed there for a few minutes before I came up for air. There was no one else here so I had it all to myself. I used my towel as a pillow and stretched out in the bath to relax. I could feel all the tension leaving my body.

God I needed this. Things had been so hectic lately, this was perfect.

"Hey. This bath is huge. Wow!" Boss beamed.

"Calm down old man." Riki said.

"Faye's all alone in her bath. I wonder if she's lonely?" Hiro asked.

I sat up, they were in the bath next door and I could everything they were saying. There was only a thin wall separating us.

"You'd better not say you're going to check on her." Riki said as a warning.

"I wasn't going to say that." Hiro said. "So Kenny, looking forward to sharing a room with Faye?"

"Shut up!" Kenny hissed.

"Hey, don't make my hair wet!" Hiro said.

I put my hand over my mouth to muffle my giggle.

"We should go to the spa tomorrow. I can't wait to see Faye in a bikini." Hiro said and laughed.

"Yeah, I bet she'd look nice." Riki said.

"Ew gross." Takuto said.

"Don't act all tough Takkun, I know you would love to see Faye in a bikini." Hiro said.

They all laughed.

Did they have to talk about me in that way? It was gross.

"I noticed how you and Faye are getting close Riki." Boss said.

"Don't be stupid." Riki said.

"Hmp. Then why do you always hog her on missions? Or make an extra strong batch of miso soup when you know Faye is tired? And why you secretly leave her umbrellas at work on rainy days? Or pretend to 'just be in the neighbourhood' to pick her up from work?" Hiro asked.

Riki did all that just for me? I had no idea but they were right, we were getting closer. I loved being with Riki, whenever we were together on missions it made me so happy. Every time he hugged me, it would make my heart skip a beat.

"What are you, my stalker or something? If anyone's getting close to Faye, it's Kenshi." Riki said.

"What are you talking about?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah, you guys always go to the gym together and you always go out drinking together." Takuto said.

"And Faye did choose you over Riki to share a room with." Boss said.

"Shut up!" Kenny shouted.

I wished they would stop talking about me like this. It was none of their business who I liked more! They were worse than girls.

I sank into the water till I was fully emerged. It felt amazing.

After the hot springs, we all met and had dinner together wearing our Yukata's.

"Whoa, there's so much sea food." I said as I sat down at the table.

"Shrimp pork noodles.." Takuto said thoughtfully as he filled his plate.

I never knew anyone who liked pork noodles as much as him.

"Takuto. You're gonna make me sick." Riki said.

"Yeah, there are regular noodles with shrimp." I pointed out.

"Oh, maybe I'll make up a new menu when I get back." Boss said.

"Shrimp pork noodles, huh? I can't really imagine it, but it sounds interesting." Kenny said.

This was turning out to be a great holiday, the guys were so much fun.

After dinner, we all started to relax.

"Hey Kenny, more sake?" I offered and held up the bottle to him.

"Go for it." He said and moved his cup under the bottle.

Between us, we had already drunk half the bottle.

"It seems like a waste to think we're already leaving tomorrow." Riki said.

"Yeah, I'd be nice to stay longer." I said.

"Guess you should try to win more prizes." Kenny said.

"We should save up money and come again for a week during summer." Riki said.

"I can't close the bar for a whole week." Boss said.

"Why not? It's not like you actually make any money off it anyway." Takuto said.

"Takkun, even if it's true, you don't have to say it out loud." Boss said looking sad.

"Ok, ok. Break time's over." Hiro said.

In his hands he was holding chopsticks.

"Time for the King Game, let's play." He beamed and held the chopsticks in the air.

"Might be a good way to kill time." Riki said.

"Yeah let's do it." I agreed.

If I became the king, I could make the guys do whatever I wanted. I couldn't help but smile and giggle to myself.

"Everyone here is an adult. I'm looking forward to playing with all you young'uns." Boss said and laughed.

"Haha. You sound like an old man." Kenny said.

"Totally." Takuto agreed.

We each picked up a chopstick and started to play the game.

"Oooh. I'm the king. I order #1 to massage #4's shoulders." Kenny said.

"A massage from Takkun… I'm so happy I could cry." Boss said sounding dramatic.

Takuto scowled.

"This is humiliating. Why the hell do I have to massage Beardy's shoulders?"

The game continued.

"I'm the king. #3 and #5, start naming off all the digits of pi." Takuto said.

"No way. The hell kind of order is that, anyway?" Riki asked.

"I'm the king. You have to follow my order." Takuto said.

"Um, can't you give us a more realistic order?" Hiro asked.

"Next." Riki ordered.

"Oh, I'm the king!" I beamed.

I thought hard, it had to be something horrible and embarrassing.

"#5 has to do a sexy dance for #4." I said.

"No way. I'm #5." Boss said.

Hiro and Kenny laughed.

"Switch with me, #4." Boss said.

"Yeah right. You could use the exercise anyway, C'mon." Riki said.

Boss started to dance in front of Riki, swaying his hips. Me, Hiro and Kenny burst out laughing. I was laughing so much I started to get a stitch in my side.

After we had all finished laughing, we picked new chopsticks.

"Heheh. I'm finally the king." Hiro said.

Everyone's expressions change when they saw that Hiro was the king.

Why did the mood suddenly change?

"You're so nice, everyone. But unfortunately I'm not. #2 has to kiss #4." Hiro said.

I was #2 but who was #4?

"That's me, I'm #4." Kenny said. "Don't tell me Boss is #2."

"Hey, why are you picking on me?" Boss said.

"Come on, who's #2?" Hiro asked.

I had to kiss Kenny?

"Me." I said.

"Ok. Faye has to kiss Kenny." Hiro declared gleefully.

I wasn't sure, I had never kissed Kenny before and he didn't look like he wanted to either.

"Come on guys you have to, it's the game." Hiro said.

Ugh, I couldn't. I just couldn't, it didn't feel right. Riki then stood up and downed his cup of sake.

"Why are you chugging that?" Boss asked.

"Riki, you know you can't hold your liquor." Hiro said.

"Riki, you're going to pass out." I said.

He drained the glass with one gulp before he fell to the floor.

"Riki, are you ok?" I asked.

"Let's take him to his room so he can lie down." Kenshi said.

With Kenny's help, we carried Riki to his room. I offered to stay for a while to make sure he was ok.

"If you need help, just let us know, ok?" Boss said.

"Will do, thanks." I said and the guys left.

Riki was such an idiot, why did he do that? I got a cold towel and placed it on his forehead when he eyes opened.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't. I was just waiting for them to leave." He said and sat up.

"I thought you had passed out drunk." I said.

"I'm not gonna pass out from a few drinks." He said.

"So… did you pass out on purpose?"

"And why would I do that?" he said.

To stop me from kissing Kenny?

"So, did you end up kissing Kenshi?" he asked.

"No, of course not."

"You didn't want to kiss him anyway, did you?" he said.

"Well… not really." I said.

"Then why didn't you just say so?"

He looked kind of mad. Why did he care who I kissed or didn't kiss? It wasn't any of his business. It's not like I was his girlfriend or anything.

"Anyway, I'm glad you're ok. I'll leave you to it." I said and stood up and left the room.

I heard him call my name but I ignored him and continued.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

That holiday seemed so far away, it was so much fun. It was definitely what I needed after everything that had happened.

I had just finished at the gym with Kenny and I was heading back to my apartment. When I got back, I had a shower, got changed before I started to practice lock picking. I had an artificial lock on my table and I was practicing picking the lock.

Boss had taught me how to pick locks but I was still very slow, I was trying to beat my time. So far, I could pick a fairly simple lock in five minutes.

I took a break and as I started to drink my tea, I got a call from Mitsuru.

"Hey."

"Hi, sorry for calling on your day off." He said.

He sounded very upbeat which only meant one thing.

"What's happened now?" I asked.

"I did something bad. I was organising and put one of the pieces for the exhibit in a cardboard box. But it was accidentally sent to our warehouse in the mountains."

"What? Are you serious?"

Pieces that don't require heavy security are transported to a storage warehouse when they aren't on view.

"Well, you have to go and get the box back." I said.

It sounded like he was about to say something when I then heard the voice of the director.

"Yes, well… the trouble is the piece that was set in one borrowed from Mr. Kanemoto." He said.

"What? Please be kidding." I said.

Mr Kanemoto was a collector of major works of art. The kind of art that's famous around the world, he couldn't afford to lose his support. And to make matters worse, he was a very difficult person.

If something actually happened to the piece, simply firing Mitsuru probably wouldn't put an end to the fallout.

"We're going to Mr Kanemoto now to apologise. I know you're not working today, but could you please go and find the artwork for Mitsuru?"

I sighed annoyed, this was my day off but I couldn't let the museum lose Mr Kanemoto.

"Fine, I'll go." I agreed.

I left my apartment with my handbag and headed straight to the mountain.

Why couldn't I just have a normal day? Where I could relax and nothing happens to me.

When I reached the mountains, I got the key from the caretaker and the door to the unit that was being used for storage. As I opened the door, I saw Hyosuke moving through the boxes.

"Hyosuke? What are you doing here?" I asked as I stepped into the cabin.

"Hey Faye, took you long enough to get here." He said with a smug smile.

"You didn't answer my question." I said and closed the door.

The room was filled with shelves and boxes. Shelves lined the walls, each shelf was filled with items. Big wooden boxes covered the floor, small tiny pathways had been made so you could walk through the cabin.

"The director phoned me and told me what had happened, so I thought I'd come and lend a hand." He said.

There was something about his smug smile that I didn't like. Plus, I thought he was on holiday?

"Well, I don't need your help so you can leave." I said and walked past him.

The care taker said that the deliveries would be near the back of the unit. I came to the first box and pushed the top off and poked my head inside.

"Oh come on Faye, don't be like that. I thought we were friends." He said.

He followed me and leaned on the box that I was searching.

"Yeah right, whatever gave you that idea?" I said and moved to the next box.

He continued to follow me.

After opening four boxes, I finally found Mr Kanemoto's piece among some papers and works of art that had yet to be processed.

"At last. Rodaso's clam fossils."

"Uh… that's the amazing work of art?" Hyosuke asked. "When you said Rodaso, I thought it'd be a bronze statue or gems. I imagined some amazing thing." Hysouke said and frowned.

"Size isn't what makes a work valuable. Rodaso loved clams and made this, plus it's really rare." I said.

I put the clam sculpture in the key case and locked the door, before I put it in my bag.

I should hopefully be home in a few hours.

I looked out of the window and noticed that it was starting to rain.

"Oh great, it's raining."

"If we hurry we can get out of here." He said as I walked towards the door.

"There is no we." I pointed out.

I opened the door, the rain was pouring down and thunder and lightening followed.

"It's a storm." Hyosuke said.

"I can see that." I said and closed the door. "We can't get down this mountain without help. We need the caretaker to come and meet us." I said.

"Do you think he will?" Hyosuke asked.

I got out my mobile to call the caretaker at the foot of the mountain. But apparently the river was starting to overflow and they've closed the bridge up the mountain.

"It should hopefully stop raining by tomorrow. I'll come and get you once they let the traffic through. There's a caretaker's room, you can sleep there." he said and then hung up without waiting for my reply.

"Oh great." I said with a sigh and put my phone away.

So there was a caretaker's room? Which meant there was only one bed. I looked around the storage unit, the only place to sleep was on the couch but there was no heater here.

"This sucks, you're supposed to get a great view of the stars from here. If the sky was clear anyway." Hyosuke said.

He was totally unfazed by the storm and was looking out of the window.

Great, I was stuck here with him. This was so unfair.

"We should probably hit the hay?" he suggested.

"Fine." I agreed.

We walked towards the caretaker's room, inside was a tiny bed. It could only fit one person, not that I wanted to sleep next to him anyway.

Hyosuke walked over to the bed and took one of the blankets from the bed.

"Mind if I take this?" he asked.

"Um… sure. But who gets the bed?" I asked.

"You do. I'll sleep out there." he said and went back into the storage unit.

"Wait, you can't sleep out there. There's no heater there, you'll freeze." I said.

He stopped and turned around.

"Are you saying I should sleep with you?" he asked and a smile grew across his face.

"No, I'm saying you should sleep in the room on the floor." I said.

His smile grew.

"Times like these, a guy is supposed to grin and bear it. And in exchange, you're going to get a good night's sleep so you can go to work tomorrow." He said.

"Hmm. Whatever." I said and climbed into the bed.

"Goodnight." He said.

He leaned against the wall, slid down till he hit the floor and closed his eyes.

I watched him as he slept. Did he follow me up here? Was he up to something? I wished I could trust him, I would like to think that he was a nice guy but my gut told me something was up.

In the middle of the night, I started to feel cold and began to toss and turn until I finally woke up. As I opened my eyes, I could see the silhouette of somebody else in the room.

We weren't alone.

I sat up, two big guys were getting ready to pounce on Hyosuke who was still asleep.

"Hyosuke, watch out." I called out.

His eyes shoot open and he swiftly dodges the attack.

"Dammit, I missed." One of the men said.

"I was awake." Hyosuke said as he jumped to his feet.

He took the guy's hand and nimbly threw him to the ground.

He knew aikido? It looked quite like the self-defence lessons that I did with Kenny.

Who was this guy?

"Let's get out of here." One of the men said.

As he spoke the other stole my bag which was sitting on the desk and ran away.

"Hey! My bag!" I shouted.

I jumped out of bed and ran after them.

I left the cabin and was immediately hit by rain and wind. The wind began to force me backwards, the rain was so heavy I could barely see in front of me.

"Wait, it's dangerous." Hysouke shouted and grabbed my hand, stopping me from going any further.

"I don't care, they stole the clam." I said and pulled my hand free.

I continued to run down the mountain, Hyosuke ran past me and blocked my path.

"Even if you do run and catch up to them, you're not going to get them in this rain."

"I have to do something, now get out of my way." I said and shoved my way past him.

"Stop, you can't go." He shouted.

From behind, he wrapped his arms around me and firmly held me against him.

"Please… don't go. Don't leave me here." He whispered in my ear.

I froze, unsure of what to do. Why was he doing this? He sounded like he was in pain.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Sorry. I just… it's not worth it. Let's go back inside." He said.

He looked really upset, I didn't have the strength to argue and besides, the men were probably long gone by now.

We returned to the caretaker's room. I turned the heater on and boiled hot water to make hot chocolate that I found in the kitchen.

"Here." I said and handed Hyosuke a cup.

He hardly said a word to me since we got back inside, he was acting weird. I wondered what his problem was?

"I'm sorry." He said.

"About what?" I asked.

"About before. I shouldn't have touched you like that." He said and looked at me.

"No it's fine. I really shouldn't have ran out there, it would have been dangerous." I said.

He smiled wistfully as I spoke.

"Um… is everything alright? You seem weird." I said.

"You noticed, huh?" he said. "Thanks for worrying about me. You're right." He said.

He took a sip from his cup and moved closer to me.

"My family was robbed, when I was in 8th grade." He said.

And just like today, it happened in the pouring rain.

"My dad ran out into the rain and chased them. Before we knew it, an hour passed and he still wasn't home." He said.

He then looked down towards the ground.

"My mum got worried, so she told my brother to take care of me whilst she went looking for my dad. But… we waited days and days and neither of them came home."

"That's so sad." I said.

He had been searching for them but they were never found.

"Didn't you think it was weird that it was just me and my brother living in that big house?" he said.

I nodded.

I had no idea that he had such a tragic past, but at least it explained why he was such a weirdo.

"So, were you ever notified of their death?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"I'm tired of looking. I have even gone abroad in search of them on even the tiniest clue. And anyway, say they are alive. Then you have to ask yourself, why didn't they ever contact us? Not even once?"

He looked sad for a minute but then he forced a smile.

"I could accept it if I knew for certain that they were dead. But… not knowing why they disappeared, why they never came back… not knowing whether they're alive or dead, just thinking about all the questions…"

He held his hand against his chest, as if he was trying to fight back pain.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be such a downer." He said.

"It's fine." I said.

"When you went outside just now, it was like I had a flashback to that night. I couldn't let you go. I got scared that I'd be watching someone else I care about disappear." He said.

I looked at him, intently. He was trembling like a small kitten, I had the urge to hug him but I stopped. He seemed like he was suffering but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Yes he had a tragic past but I still didn't know him and I still couldn't trust him. I shouldn't allow myself to get close to him, at least not until I was sure I could trust him.

We both towel dried our hair and stood near the fire, warming ourselves up. I also called the police and reported the robbery, before I went back to bed.

What was I going to tell the director in the morning? I was so going to get in trouble.

The next day, a call from Riki woke me up.

"Hmm… Hello?" I said half asleep.

"What, you were asleep?" he asked.

"Umm… yeah, had a long night." I said.

I rubbed my eyes and slowly sat up yawning. Hyosuke was still asleep.

"Can you come by the LRN later today after work?" he asked.

"Sure, why?" I asked.

"We've discovered that a letter from your great-grandfather was misappropriated by an individual working for the postal service."

"A letter from Gramps? Really? When's the day? I'll have to ask for the day off." I said.

"Two days from now. We'll talk more tonight." He said.

"Ok." I agreed.

"Don't you have work today? What are you doing sleeping at this hour? You're going to be late." He said.

"Ugh. I'll explain tonight but not now. I'm not at home." I said.

"Where are you?... with a guy?"

"What? No!" I said loudly.

"Hey, who's that?" Hyosuke said sleepily as he woke up.

I turned and shushed him.

"Is that Hyosuke? You're with him?" Riki asked.

I got out of bed and left the room.

"It's not what you think, it's a work related issue. Nothing is happening between me and him." I said.

"Look at you. Well, I'm glad you've got yourself a boy. But don't forget about tonight, see ya." He said and hung up before I could explain.

Oh great, so now Riki thinks I'm going out with Hyosuke.

So, after the caretaker came and took us down the mountain, I explained everything to the director. I then went to the local police station and reported the robbery.

"It's seriously been thing, after thing." I muttered to myself.

I felt so exhausted. Me and the director apologised to everyone under the sun today, Mr Kanemoto was really angry and plus I still had to sort out the exhibition and now I had this mission.

"I definitely need another holiday after all this." I grumbled to myself as I opened the door to the LRN.

Everyone was already there.

"Oh it's Faye. I heard you have a new boyfriend." Hiro said.

What?

"It's the guy from before, right?" Kenny asked. "You should've said something." He said with a beaming smile.

"Bring him around sometime. I'll cook something good." Boss said.

I held my hands up "No, no, no. He's not my boyfriend. I have nothing to do with him." I said.

"So, what were you doing last night with this guy who you have nothing to do with?" Takuto asked, he was glaring at me.

"Why are you mad at me? It's none of your business anyway." I snapped back.

"It's because he likes-"

"Shut up, Beardy." Takuto hissed and covered bosses mouth.

Whatever.

"So why were you with him?" Riki asked.

"I was with him because we were sent on a job for work. We had to recover a missing piece for the museum. He came with me to the storage unit, we got caught in the storm and we ended up spending the night in the unit."

"Did you find the item?" Kenny asked.

"Yes, it's fine." I lied.

I didn't want to get them involved, I didn't need their help for everything. I wanted to deal with this situation on my own.

"Anyway, about the mission." I said. "So there's a letter from my great-grandfather?"

Everyone all suddenly looked serious.

"As I said this morning, our target is a letter written by your great-grandfather." Riki said.

"We received information that a letter written by the Japanese Leonardo da Vinci is to be sold in a black market auction." Hiro said.

"But it makes sense that there's be a few of my great-grandfather's letters out in the world, right?" I said.

He was big on writing letters and every once in a while one of them would show up. I had even once seen a letter he wrote inquiring after someone's health during a hot summer on one of those antique appraisal shows.

But why would one of his letters be in a black market instead of a normal auction?

"We looked into who the seller is. It's someone working as a postmaster." Riki said.

"And get this, the letter was postmarked, but never opened." Kenny said.

"So the letter was delivered, and the person who received it never opened it?" I asked.

"You've got a lot to learn. It wasn't opened because it never got to the addressee." Takuto said.

"Oh. You mean…"

The guys all nodded.

"Back then, this postmaster was a postman delivering the mail. Turns out he was quietly taking the letters of celebrities for his own collection." Boss said.

What? Why?

"The PM, this postmaster… looks like everyone's abusing their authority these days." Kenny said.

"I guess you can't move up in this world without doing some dirty work." Takuto said.

"Isn't it the same thing as a certain Mr Hacks-a-lot being considered an able contributor to society?" Hiro said.

Takuto didn't look impressed with Hiro's joke.

"What was that?" Takuto snapped.

"Ack. It was a joke." Hiro laughed.

"Ok boys, cut it out." Boss said.

He took control like he always did.

"If it happened when a current postmaster was a postman, does that mean I was alive when this letter was written?" I asked.

"Yes. Based on the info released before the auction, we still don't know who the letter was to. Knowing who he sent this letter to could lead to the discovery of paintings, that have been assumed lost forever due to a lack of information." Riki said.

"Which means there will probably be a lot of bidders on this letter. Someone might try to take it by other means, too." Hiro said.

"Well, I'm just thankful that this postmaster is simply a fan of letters and wasn't interested in finding treasure." Boss said.

We all nodded.

"No. The guys profiting from a letter he stole. I'm not thankful." Hiro said.

"Where's the letter now?" I asked.

"Until the week of the auction, the letter's being held in a safety deposit box in the postmaster's office." Kenny said.

So, we're taking the letter before the auction house does.

"Mission's tomorrow night. Sorry about the short notice, but be ready for tomorrow night." Boss said.

We all agreed.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The next night, we noticed that something was wrong shortly after sneaking into the post office. Once we were in, Takuto immediately said.

"Wait a second."

"What?" Riki asked.

"Somebody else broke in first."

"You're sure?" Boss asked.

"Positive." Takuto said. "They took down the security crazy fast and now, they're heading for the third floor postmaster's office."

"We have to hurry." Kenny said.

Someone had already taken down the security? I could only think of one person, Hyosuke. It had to be him, but why? He was popping up everywhere I was, I couldn't figure out what he was after.

We rushed to the postmaster's office, by the time we got there it looks like the letter, and only the letter had been taken from the safe.

"What the hell?!" Riki demanded.

"Guys. The security on the rooftop was just taken offline." Takuto said.

"Are they escaping by helicopter?" Boss asked.

"Who is this?" Hiro asked.

"The raccoon?" I suggested.

Takuto immediately refuted the suggestion.

"Ha, no way."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because that idiot tanuki can't unlock anything this fast. And the way they did it is funny. They didn't hack the system like I would." He said.

"What do you mean?" Riki asked.

"They cut the electrical wires. To pull that off, you'd have to know the security system like the back of your hand."

Hyosuke came to mind again. Was he trying to get in the way of our missions?

"We're going to the roof. If they get away, it's over." Riki said.

"I'll go ahead." Kenny said.

Boss and Kenny flew up the stairs, they were so fast. The rest of us followed as fast as we could. With all the gym sessions I had been doing, I found the stairs quite easy.

When I reached the roof, I could hear Kenny arguing with someone up ahead past a water tank.

"What's going on? Answer me." Kenny shouted. "Don't tell me you were using Faye…"

"Whoa, Kenshi. Hold your horses." Boss said and had to hold Kenny back. "You got some reason for doing this?"

When I passed the water tank. I could see Hyosuke looking up at the moonlight.

"I knew it." I shouted.

"So, you're a thief." Riki said.

Hysouke didn't say anything, instead he just sadly turned and looked at me.

I marched over to him.

"I want to know, why you've done this. What are you after?" I asked.

"This…isn't what I wanted." He said.

He then walked over to me and handed me a bundle of letters.

"Why? Tell me."

He looked like a lifeless doll.

"Hey, you. She asked you a question." Takuto said.

"We won't forgive anyone for hurting Faye." Hiro said.

They all pressed Hyosuke for answers, but it was like he didn't even hear them. He remained silent as he walked towards the edge of the roof.

He was going to jump?!

"Hey! You'll fall." Boss said.

"Hyosuke, don't." I shouted.

When he heard my voice, he turned and looked at me.

"Your… friends…" he muttered.

"Hey!" Riki said.

"You're being rash." Kenny shouted.

We were all too scared to move towards him in case that made him jump.

"Don't, stop." I shouted as he turned and jumped off the nine-story building.

We all ran to the railing, he didn't fall. He was sliding down a pipe and disappeared into the night.

Seriously? Who was he?

"That guy… is a professional at this." Riki said.

I knew he was lying, I just knew it. But what was he after? If he just wanted the letters, why did he give them to me?

"Faye? Are you ok?" Hiro asked.

"I'm fine. But who is he? What does he want?" I asked.

"How did he even know about our mission?" Takuto asked.

"This is my fault. I let my guard down around him." I said.

Riki glanced over at me.

"I should've told you to be more careful. I'm sorry you had to go through this." He said.

"No it's my fault, I knew he up to something but I didn't act upon it." I said.

I thought back to the mountain. Was the robbery in the cabin also part of his plan? Did he tell me some lame story about his parents going missing so I would lower my guard?

"That jerk. When I next see him, I'm gonna knock his face in." I said with gritted teeth and clenched my right fist.

"It's not your fault. He seemed like a nice guy, anyone would have been fooled." Hiro said.

"Totally. That carefree smile of his? I thought that's who he was." Kenny said.

"Hm. Let's see if he's a loner or if he's going back to a group." Boss said.

"I'd be surprised if there was anyone else based out of Tokyo other than the Raccoon." Riki said.

"Well, look. He returned the item. He isn't 100% our enemy… cheer up." Boss said.

I looked down at the letters before I nodded.

"He got in there fast." Kenny said.

"The way he broke in, this could be dangerous." Takuto said.

"He was so fast… it didn't look hard for him at all." Riki said.

"He was doing the work of the six of us all on his own." Boss said.

"Truthfully? It's really amazing." Hiro said.

They were talking about him as if he was there rival.

"Dammit! Next time, we're not losing to that guy." Takuto declared.

Next time? Huh, next time I was going to kick his ass. But what was I going to do about work? I was going to see him and I couldn't attack him at work.

Back at the LRN,

"I can't believe it's to my great-grandfather." Boss said.

We were all sat at our normal table and we were reading the letter.

"Dear Kashiwabara. The cherry Blossom trees along the Sumida River are finally in bloom'?" Hiro read. "What the heck, it's a normal letter."

I then took the letter from him.

"Why don't we get together one starry night to gaze at the blossoms.' You're right." I said.

"I can't believe we went to the trouble to steal these." Takuto said.

Everyone looked so disappointed. Riki then took the letter from me and carefully started to check it, to see whether there isn't a hidden letter or message somewhere.

"Why are you doing that?" I asked.

"Think about it, they didn't live very far from each other. And there were phones. There had to be a reason he sent a letter." He said.

"You're right." I agreed.

"Why don't we try heating it?" Takuto suggested.

"You mean that thing where you reveal something written with lemon juice? We did that in elementary school." Hiro said.

"That reminds me. There was that magical pen that was popular when we were little, where the words would appear with water." Kenny said.

"Let's start with heat." Takuto said.

Takuto and Hiro eagerly start towards the kitchen.

"Wait, wait. What's the rush? What if you're wrong? Let's think about other possibilities before you wreck the thing." Boss said.

"Man. Boooring." Hiro said and pouted.

A thought then crossed my mind.

"What if it glowed in the dark?" I suggested.

"We would have noticed up on the roof if it did." Riki said.

"What if we shone a light on it to see? Like if a microchip was planted in the paper?" I said.

"It's think enough that we'd know by touching it." He said but he shone a light on it anyway.

"Geeze. Bugs sure like old letters." Kenny said.

He had good eyes, he looked at the paper as Riki shone the light on it.

"I don't see anywhere eaten by bugs." I said.

"Look closer. There are tiny holes. The lights shining through part of the paper." Kenny said.

"It's hard for a geezer like me to see, but isn't that too many holes to be from bugs?" Boss asked.

"Let me see that. Boss, give me a flashlight." Hiro said.

Hiro took the letter and turned the lights out before turning on the flash light

"Is this…" he trailed off as he held the light under the letter.

When he did, an infinite number of stars appeared on the ceiling.

"That's.." Riki said.

"I guess these are the stars he was talking about in the letter?" I said.

"They're stars alright, but I don't think these are any ordinary stars." Boss said.

"You think it's braille?" Hiro asked.

Normally you read braille by feeling embossed text with your finger. But in this case, it's braille made with tiny holes. So it can be projected onto a wall or other surface by shining a light under the paper.

"Good going Hiro." Kenny beamed.

"Heehee." Hiro laughed.

"I-I knew that…" Takuto mumbled.

"Ok, ok. I'm glad we did this before we burned the paper." Boss said.

"Err." Takuto grumbled and his face turned red from embarrassment.

We all looked at the braille and decipher the message. It said;

"I'm entrusting a part of my work to the Kujos, guardians of ancient treasure." Riki read out loud.

"That says Kujo... right?" Boss said.

Kujo? As in Hysouke?

"In any case, I'll read what it says next. Apparently, in the basement of their home is a strange storehouse of treasure that can only be opened every 10 years." Riki continued.

When my great-grandfather went to store a work there, they said they had other rare objects there and showed him some treasure.

"Queen Himiko's jewels, a real da Vinci sketch. Sleeping Madonna by Michelangelo…" Riki listed.

"Whoa. Hold up." Hiro said and suddenly interjected.

"What?" Riki asked.

"You just said… Sleeping Madonna?" Hiro said.

"Yeah, and?"

"That was one of the paintings confiscated when we broke in the prime minister's place."

"Seriously?" I said.

It wasn't just a dummy painting that was on top of the stolen one we found.

"You mean the prime minister had other stolen paintings?" I asked.

"Yup. Chief Fujioka got in touch with me after. They'd found other stolen works on the backs of the paintings in his office." Boss said.

"I was at the appraisal, I'm pretty sure I saw the Sleeping Madonna." Hiro said.

We were all stunned.

"Hey Faye, what's the name of that guy who deceived you?" Riki asked.

"Hyosuke Kujo." I said.

"And he lives on the outskirts of town?" Riki asked.

I nodded.

"I thought I'd heard that name before. Kujo. It's an aristocratic family, like mine. I think they've been here for generations." Riki said.

While Riki was talking, Takuto was looking something up on his computer.

"I knew it. Kujo is the name of the family who's been in charge of protecting the treasure of the Tokugawas ever since the 1600s. Maybe some portion of that treasure is still there." Riki said.

We all looked surprised.

"I don't get it. Doesn't that make him a victim of a thief too?" Kenny asked.

"So the question is, why didn't he say so in the first place? Why'd he do what he did?" Takuto asked.

"Look at it from his perspective. It's not like he could trust us right from the get-go, I mean we are thieves." Boss said with a smile.

"Geeze, that guy is awkward." Takuto said.

"This, coming from Takkun." Hiro said.

"You got something to say?!" Takuto snapped.

They start to fight like they always did, this really wasn't the time to start an argument.

"Guys, cut it out. This isn't the time for this." I said loudly and bashed my hand the table.

"Yikes. She might be the scariest of all of us." Takuto said.

"For real." Hiro agreed and smiled at me.

So he broke into the Prime Minister's house so he could just get the painting back? If that was all he wanted, he should have just asked. He didn't need to use me. But why did he follow me tonight?

"Well, I'm glad that the reason he was using Faye wasn't in order to do some harm or wrongdoing." Boss said.

"Yeah, I suppose." I said.

But it didn't change the fact that he used me.

"His parents guard the treasure now?" Riki asked.

"No, ten years ago his parents ran after robbers who broke into their home. They've been missing ever since. He's living with his brother, a doctor. He says the two of them have looked all over the world for their parents, but he still doesn't know if they're alive or dead." I said.

"That's some history." Boss said.

"He doesn't look it, but he's gone through a lot." Kenny said.

"The guardians of the treasure have gone missing, but no bodies have been found. And somehow, one of those treasures that the Kujo's were guarding wound up in the hands of the prime minister." Riki said.

"Do you think the prime minister was behind the burglary ten years ago?" Hiro asked.

"Maybe they needed the money, so they pretended there was a theft and sold it?" Takuto asked.

We could stand here and talk all day about the possibilities, but it won't solve anything.

"Hey." Riki said and looked at me. "Go and meet Kujo and ask him."

"Me? Why?" I asked.

"He used you, it's your turn to use him."

"You're right." I agreed.

"What we're trying to do will help him with his objective, too. I doubt he'd agree right away to an offer of help. But he'll see that you're not trying to pull anything on him." Boss said.

"Takuto, do you know where he is?" Riki asked.

"I'm checking the city's surveillance cameras now." Takuto said.

"Geeze, Takuto. You're so fast." Kenny laughed.

"I guess I am fast…" Takuto bragged and smiled to himself. "I'll search using a photo of the guy."

"When did you take a photo of him?" Riki asked.

"You've got your good name back since he outsmarted you and your hacking skills." Hiro said.

"What-"

"Hiro, cut it out." Boss said before another argument started. "Don't say anything that could demotivate Takkun."

"Actually, I'm motivated." Takuto declared.

He tracked Hyosuke down to a river on the edge of town.

"We'll be there, on standby. Shout if you run into trouble." Riki said.

"Ok." I said and nodded.

I stood up and headed to the river where Hysouke was.

20 minutes later, I came to the river and saw him stood alone by the bank. He was gazing at the pages of a notebook, seemingly lost in thought he didn't even notice my arrival.

I was to say something when I heard him talk to himself.

"Where the hell is the treasure we lost. I thought if I just followed da Vinci, I'd finally find whoever was behind it." He said.

He didn't seem to know yet that the prime minister had a painting from the Kujo's home.

"I thought if I could just find that painting I'd find mum and dad. I didn't find them after searching everywhere so they must be gone. And this…"

He took something from inside his pocket and threw it in the river. A photo, of his parents?

"Hyosuke, wait." I called out and walked up to him.

"Faye?" he gasped.

He looked surprised to see me.

I slipped past him and made a dash for the photo being carried away by the water. I went straight into the river till I was waist deep, I grabbed the photo and held it up so I could see the picture. In the phot there was a man and a woman, with kind smiles on their faces.

"What are you doing? Quick, or you'll get swept away." He shouted.

He held his hand out to me. I grabbed hold of it and he pulled me out of the river.

"Why did you throw it away?" I asked.

"I don't need it anymore." He said.

"They're your parents, you wanted to find them right? That's why you used me?"

He turned away from me and looked down at the ground.

"I thought if I found the stolen painting, I'd find my parents there too. I got word from the prime minister's black market art sales and I lied to you. But as it turns out, he didn't have what I was looking for. I don't have any other clues, it's over." He said.

"You're wrong. The painting, The Sleeping Madonna, it was at the residence." I said.

"Where?!" he demanded.

"It was one of the confiscated paintings." I said.

"But if that painting's in Japan, then where are my parents! Don't you think somethings up when they find the painting but not the paintings guardians?"

"Well…"

"It couldn't be… was it all a trick? Like, they teamed up with the prime minister to make it look like it was stolen so they could sell it?"

"No, I'm sure that's not it. All of the paintings that were confiscated were stolen. The painting was so important to your parents that they frantically ran out into the rain to chase the robbers. To leave you two at home and chase the robbers risking their lives." I said.

I felt sorry for him, he was giving up on searching for his parents and I wanted to help him.

"But what about you… Faye. I lied to you, why are you doing this for me?" he asked.

"It's the right thing to do." I said.

"That's noble of you." He said and turned away.

Just then, I heard Riki's voice over the transceiver.

"Faye, get his cooperation if you're not gonna get information out of him. And hurry up, it's almost morning." He said.

I then thought of the day we spent in the mountains. I wanted to help him and find his parents.

"We'll look for your parents as well." I said.

"What…"

"Maybe it's impossible for us to work together, but I'll get in touch immediately if we get any information." I said before I walked off.

I couldn't find it within myself to ask him for his cooperation and besides, we were the black foxes. We could do this without him.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Two days later, I was back at work after taking two days off to handle the aftermath of our mission.

"Faye, how's your grandma doing?" Mitsuru asked.

He looked concerned the moment I walked through the door.

"She's fine, thank you." I said and smiled at him.

To get time off so suddenly, I lied and said that my grandma was in hospital.

"That's great." He said and smiled back at me.

As we stood there, I looked around. I couldn't see Hysouke anywhere, where was he?

"Hey, is Hyosuke here?" I asked.

"He won't be coming in today. He has a meeting with a systems vendor."

"Oh, ok." I said and nodded.

"But hey, the displays and the security for this exhibit are awesome." He continued.

"I know, it's really cool isn't it?" I said.

"You and Hyosuke designed the whole thing."

"No, Hyosuke did most of it." I said.

We continued to talk as we headed to the big gallery. Whilst I was away, the exhibit was near completion.

"Wow!"

"You know, that thing in the mountains happened. Another art thief showed up recently. Goes by the name Silver Cat. Then again, the Silver Cat is apparently an idiot and hasn't stolen anything yet."

The silver cat? Was he like the White Raccoon? If that was the case, we didn't have anything to worry about.

"The director was thinking about cancelling this exhibit."

"What? Why?" I asked.

"He was afraid that we'd be robbed again. But Hyosuke convinced him that the two of you are really confident in the system that you worked out together, and that it would be ok. Thanks to him, it's all going as planned."

"Oh really?" I said dubious.

What was he up this time?

"Anyway… I'm sorry. What happened was all my fault. I was thinking about shaving my head as an expression of my remorse. What do you think?"

"You? Shave your head?" I burst out laughing.

"Don't laugh, I'm serious."

I stopped and took a moment to catch my breath.

"Ok, as a friend, and I mean this in the best possible way, if you shaved your head, you'd look like an idiot."

He gasped and looked sad.

"You didn't have to put it like that." He said.

After work, I headed to the LRN at Riki's request. The news was on, proclaiming 'A new thief appears.'

"What's going on?" I asked as I sat down.

"Hey." Boss said.

"What's going on with the news?" I asked.

"The news isn't about us." Kenny said.

"Oh, ok so why have you asked me here?" I asked.

"That postmaster. He's apparently connected with an organisation that was blackmailing the prime minister. The guy who stole your bag are part of that organisation. I asked you here to tell you that but.." Riki said but then looked up at the tv.

"Then out of nowhere, this comes on the evening news. We don't know what to make of it." Hiro said.

I looked up at the tv, a new thief? Are they going on about the Silver Cat or maybe the Raccoon?

"Does the name Silver Cat ring any bells?" Riki asked.

"We haven't met this thief yet, but I heard from the director of the Thieves Guild, that there's some weirdo thief in Tokyo who's been breaking into all kinds of places without taking anything." Boss said.

"He's been sneaking into museums. You don't know anything about it?" Hiro asked.

"Well, Mitsuru at work did mention something about it at work earlier but that's it." I said.

But apparently, that's not what they wanted me to say.

"You don't have any friends who are cat lovers?" Riki asked.

The way Riki was talking, it was like he was looking for a specific answer.

I looked at him quizzingly.

"What are you trying to say?" I asked.

"We think the Silver Cat is Hyosuke." He said.

"Really? I doubt that." I said.

"I suspect the doctor brother, too. It looked like the sheets of rubber insulation were cut with a surgical knife." He said.

"But why would they break into places and not steal anything?" I asked.

Just then, the reporter on the tv said that the Silver Cat sent a letter warning the very postmaster we identified.

If it was Hyosuke, why would he send a letter to the postmasters? We had already finished with him and we got my gramp's letters back.

I thought back. The cat at Hyosuke's house, she looked silver and he loved her.

"If he is the thief, why would he go after the postmaster? We don't have a business with him." I said.

"He might know something we don't. He knows something about the postmaster and the prime minster and that illegal organisation. He's trying to expose something about them." Riki said.

"Maybe." Boss said.

"But why? What could he possibly get out of this?" I asked.

"Maybe he's getting revenge." Kenny said.

"If he can prove the postmaster and the prime minister's relationship to the organisation, he should be able to get them arrested." Riki said.

"He sets himself up, then shows the world what they've done. The police would move on it." Boss said.

Riki nodded. "And the thing with his parents should reach a conclusion… whatever the result."

"So, what are we going to do? Stop him?" I asked.

"This is the Silver Cat's problem. It has nothing to do with us." Riki said.

"We put ourselves out there and we'll get arrested. It'll be all over." Takuto said.

"Besides, he doesn't want our help." Riki said.

"And anyway Faye, aren't you forgetting something? He lied to you and stole our information. Consider it punishment for what he's done and leave it." Hiro said.

I sighed.

Why was this bothering me so much? He deserved to suffer for lying to me but I couldn't help but feel bad. He still hadn't found his parents and if he kept going like this, he would get arrested and never know. I had to help him, even if the guys didn't want to get involved. That didn't mean that I couldn't.

"I'm gonna say it again, the Silver Cat has nothing to do with the Black Foxes." Riki said.

"Yeah I know, you just said that." I said.

"I know you Faye. You feel sorry for him, you're gonna go help him." Riki said.

I looked at him and tried to keep my face looking normal.

"No I wasn't." I lied.

"Don't lie, you're bad at lying." He said.

"But Faye's bag that was stolen on the mountain might be at the postmaster's place." Boss said.

"I don't care what happens to that jerk." Takuto said.

"I don't want to give those guys the clam sculpture. What a waste." Hiro said.

"So, does that mean…"

"Faye, we're going." Kenny said.

"Really? Why?" I asked.

"It's what we do. It has nothing to do with the Silver Cat." Riki said.

"Isn't that our policy as thieves? We help people who have a problem because of a work of art." Boss said.

"Well, I'd say it's like a bonus. It's our mission, and as a bonus, it just so happens that we're helping the guy out." Hiro said.

"We're not doing it for him." Takuto said firmly.

"Ok, time for a meeting." Riki said.

The next day, we find a little street with a good view of the postmaster's house.

"That's a lot of guards." Riki said.

"Dammit. Now how are we gonna get over there?" Kenny asked.

On top of the impressive security, there's press and onlookers all over the place. Some how they heard that todays the day.

"It doesn't make sense. The time and place were never made public." Riki said.

"Yeah. It's weird. From what Fujioka said, the investigation was supposed to be done in secret. There shouldn't be so many cops here." Boss said.

"Oh well, we'll have to get in there with all these people around." Hiro said.

We puzzled over the scene, which isn't what we expected.

"Look, over there. Someone in the shadow. I'm pretty sure it's not a guard." Hiro said.

"Let me see." I said and took the binoculars.

There were several well built men stood in the shadows, I instantly recognised the clothes.

"Those are the same clothes of the guys that robbed me in the mountains." I said.

"So mixed in with the normal guards are guys from the criminal organisation." Riki said.

"Uh, with all this going on… do you really think our guy will come?" Hiro asked.

"When he sees this, he might lose his nerve and call it a day." Takuto said.

"Well, I'm a fan of that decision. We can come back for Faye's bag later, after the hoopla over the thief has died down." Boss said.

We were all looking around us very cautiously.

"Do you think the Silver Cat- I mean Hyosuke is even coming?" Kenny asked. "Faye, what do you think?"

I just shrugged "I don't know."

I hadn't even seen Hyosuke since the river, I hoped he wasn't coming.

"In any case, it's shows time the second he breaks in. Keep your guard up." Riki said.

I nodded.

Hiro then spoke.

"He's here. Look, over there." he said and pointed. "He got over the back wall quick. He's inside."

"Ok, let's go." Boss said.

"It's show time!" Riki announced.

"Ok." Everyone said.

We jumped out of the van and followed Hyosuke into the house. Kenny and Boss jump the fence and went inside. Next was Riki. Luckily the guard on the other side of the fence was a normal one, and the three of them took him out easily.

"Sorry, nothing against you." Kenny said and the guard fell to the floor.

"He's sleeping. He'll wake up in an hour." Riki said.

"We'll go ahead." I heard Kenny say from the other side of the wall.

"Now, hurry." Boss said.

"Jump Faye." Hiro ordered.

I took a step back and jumped against the wall, I grabbed the top and pulled myself up and over. I landed next to Hiro on the other side of the wall.

"Nice going Faye!" Hiro as I stood up.

The other three were already inside the building.

I wondered if it was normal for a postmaster to live in such a big house?

"This place is crazy." Hiro said as we got inside.

"Yeah, it's huge." I said.

"Built with dirty money." Takuto said.

It was obvious that postmaster's hands were dirty from lots of corrupt activity. No wonder Hyosuke thought that he was part of his parents going missing.

"Takuto, where is he?" Riki asked through the transceiver.

"He's going up the stairs to the third floor." Takuto answered.

"He's fast. Whoops. I see another guard, they're inside too. So watch yourself." Boss said over the transceiver.

Since Boss and the others took care of the guards, we were able to follow behind cautiously and pretty easily.

"Riki, he stopped. He's in the far room." Takuto said.

"We'll be right there, wait for us." Hiro said.

We ran as fast as we could until we were with the others in front of the room.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"Inside, I presume." Riki said.

"Ready? I'm opening the door." Boss said.

Boss kicked the door in and the door flew open.

"Hahah! I'm light-years ahead of you, you pathetic thief." The postmaster gloated.

Two men were holding Hyosuke back by both arms, whilst the postmaster was stood by his desk. Hyosuke couldn't move, he was helpless.

He dropped to his knees and let out a sigh, his head was hanging. The postmaster then started kicking Hyosuke in the stomach, right in front of us.

"Hey!" I shouted and went to run towards them when Riki held me back.

"Faye wait."

"We have to help him." I said but Riki didn't loosen his grip on my wrist.

In a pained voice, Hyosuke said.

"Faye… why did you come?"

Postmaster the noticed us and seemed perplexed.

"Who're you? This cat's friends?" he asked.

"No… they have… nothing to do with…" Hyosuke struggled to speak.

"You're still talking? Take that!"

The postmaster then kicked him again. It looked like he was enjoying himself as he kicked and punched Hysouke. There was a dull thud and Hyosuke's lips split and blood poured out.

"Hey, stop!" I ordered.

"Oh, a girl with spirit. Move, and I think you know what'll happen to him." the postmaster said.

He gave a signal to his guards and they pointed a gun at Hyosuke.

"Uh, ok. I don't think these are ordinary guards." Kenny said.

"You bastard. Do you really think you'll really get away with this? The police-" I shouted.

"Police?" the postmaster said before he burst out laughing. "Listen to you, I am the one who showed the letter to the police. They'll forgive me for defending myself against a thief."

The postmaster seemed completely at ease, as though he never for a second thought that we might know the background info of what's happening.

I then heard the sound of running footsteps from the second floor. It must be the guards.

"Uh oh. I think I'll sweep the hall." Boss said.

He quickly slipped out of the room and went into the hallway.

"Hiro, distract this bastard. Kenshi and I will take care of the guards." Riki ordered.

"What about me?" I asked.

"Get Kujo and get out of here." Kenny ordered.

"Takuto will look for your bag and evidence. Let's go." Riki ordered.

At Riki's signal, we all got moving.

"Oh mister. Sorry, I can't dress as a girl. I don't have my disguises with me." Hiro said.

He suddenly started talking in a flirty feminine voice, the postmaster was completely baffled.

The guards watched Hiro too, waiting to see what he had up his sleeve.

"Please don't hurt me, I'm weak." Hiro said. "Just kidding…. Attack!"

Hiro pointed to a powerful stun gun that Takuto put together, at the postmaster.

"Ahh!" Postmaster cried out.

His eyes bulged out as he let out a pained groaned.

"Kenshi, now!" Riki ordered.

"On it." Kenny said.

Riki and Kenny attacked the guards together. As they jumped at the guards, they let go of Hyosuke and tried to defend themselves.

I had to move now. I ran over to Hysouke and held out my hand.

"Hyosuke, come with me." I said.

He didn't even look at me, instead he was glaring at the postmaster, who was writhing from the pain from the stun gun. I then noticed that Hyosuke had something in his hand, it looked like a small thin needle.

Was he going to kill the postmaster? I then thought back to what Kenny had said about getting revenge. Takuto's stun gun couldn't kill, but if Hyosuke crossed the line then it would mean life in prison.

"Hysouke, don't. Please." I said.

He turned to me for a second, his face was badly beaten. He smiled at me before he slipped by Hiro and grabbed a bag from the desk.

Was that my bag that was stolen? Did he not break in for revenge but for my bag?

Just then, I heard some noise coming from the hall and Boss came in with a friendly face.

"Police, don't move." Fujioka said.

A few policemen file into the room after Fujioka, they immediately apprehend the postmaster and his guards.

"Sorry that took so long." Boss said.

"No kidding, what the heck boss?" Hiro said.

"Any later, we might've actually killed these guys." Kenny said.

Outside the window, I noticed a flock of patrol cars. Members of the criminal organisation are being arrested left and right.

"How did this happen?" I asked.

"Yeah well… I was asked to help out with an undercover investigation. So, sorry I cut it close." Boss said.

"That's so cool." I beamed and smiled at him.

He winked back before he walked over to Fujioka.

"Hey Faye, here's your bag." Kenny said.

Hyosuke had given the bag to Kenny, he brought it over to me.

"I'm opening it." Riki said.

I nodded.

Nothing had gone missing from the bag, even the clam sculptures were still there. The postmaster must have not realised that the sculptures were the work of a famous artist.

"This is art? They look like rocks to me." Riki said.

"Clams that you can't eat." Kenny said.

The two of them frown.

"What are you guys talking about? This is the real deal. Amazing." Hiro said.

"I know right? Here." I handed one to Hiro who happily examined it.

We both huddled over the bag and admire the clams.

"Aren't they just so beautiful?" I said.

"You said it." Hiro said and smiled at me.

"I'm glad we got them back, thanks guys." I said.

"You're welcome." Riki said.

They were seriously the best. I wrapped my arms around Hiro and Riki and pulled them close.

That's when I noticed that Hysouke wasn't with us. I looked around and saw him stood by the window.

I walked over to him.

"Are you ok? You took quite a beating." I said.

He didn't answer.

"What were you trying to do?" I asked.

"I didn't like seeing you sad, you've been really nice to me." He said.

Did he really do this for me or was he just lying again?

Takuto then walked over to us.

"Yo, cat. I think this is yours?"

Takuto was holding a stack of letters out of Hyosuke. I could see the address on the top letter.

"To Taiga and Hyosuke." I read out loud.

"They're from your parents, aren't they?" Takuto said.

In shock, Hyosuke took the letters and hurriedly checked the handwriting and text.

"It's my mother's handwriting. What was this doing here?"

His attention was fully absorbed as he read the letter.

"The date. This letter is from last month… they're alive."

"What's is say?" Takuto asked.

"That they couldn't home because they didn't want to put us in danger. Asking about… what we eat… stuff like that." Hyosuke answered.

His hands were shaking.

"So, they are alive." I said.

"You were right not to give up." Takuto said.

"You're saying I'm right? Ok, someone take note." I said, making the other's laugh.

I could see the relief in Hyosuke's face and I couldn't be happier.

"Maybe the postmaster thought they wrote about how to get into the basement, or about the other treasures they might have down there. And stole their letters. Those guys might've been keeping you brothers alive just to intercept these letters." Takuto said.

"Really? That's horrible." I said.

But that might be why their house was never attacked again, even with their parents gone.

"Thank you. I mean it… thank you." Hyosuke said.

I turned to say that he was welcome but he was already gone.

"I can't believe that guy. Tell him he can quit showing off, will you?" Riki said to me.

"I don't know, don't you think he's pretty cool?" Kenny asked.

"Uuh. I think he's stupid. Trying to pull this off by himself? It's weird." Hiro said.

"He thinks he's so good at this security stuff. Thinks he can outsmart me?" Takuto said angrily.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, god he was childish.

"Now, now. I like him, he's got spunk." Boss said.

"I'm just happy that he found what he was looking for." I said.

"You're hopeless Faye, you'd help an injured kitten if you came across one." Riki said.

"Of course I would." I said.

"Alright, what do you say we go back to the LRN and have some drinks?" Boss suggested.

"I say yes." Hiro said.

I looked out of the window, the postmaster was getting inside Fujioka's patrol car. It was all over, he was never going to hurt anyone again.

"Faye, let's go." Riki said.

"Coming." I said and followed them.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The next day, I arrived at work. Hyosuke was there, acting like nothing had happened.

"Hey." I said and walked up to him.

"Morning." He said and smiled at me.

"How are you?" I asked.

"It hurts a little where he punched me, but I'm ok." He said.

"Good." I said and was about to walk off when he spoke.

"About last night… thank you." He said.

"You're welcome but it was really thanks to the others as well." I said.

"I made fun of your Boss and called him an old guy before. But I heard that, thanks to what he did, I wasn't pursued by the police. I'll have to thank him later." He said.

The news had reported that the letter from the silver cat was just a prank, nothing more.

"Haha. Boss doesn't look the part, but he's actually pretty impressive." I said. "Did you read the letters?"

"Yeah. I went home and read them with my brother. It was emotional. As you can imagine, we couldn't read all ten years' worth yet." He said.

He smiled as he spoke, he looked like his normal self.

"Do you know where they might be?" I asked.

"The last letter was from Switzerland, so they might be in Europe." He said.

"That's good, at least you have some idea. You can go and find them now." I said.

He then looked at me startled.

"There it is again." He said.

"What?" I asked.

"You're always getting genuinely mad and sad for someone other than yourself. And you get happy when I'm happy." He said.

"Yeah well, I can't help it." I said which made him laugh for some reason.

"So Faye, it's about time for the morning meeting. Should we head over?" he said.

I nodded and we made our way to the office.

7 hours later, I finished work and I was standing outside when Hyosuke came up to me.

"Are you free tonight?" he asked.

"Sorry, not today." I said.

I just got a call from Boss, asking me to come to the LRN.

"Do… you have date?" Hyosuke asked. "Is it something you can cancel? I was hoping we could have a little time together."

"I'm really sorry but no, I can't. The guys called me in." I said.

He just nodded.

"I just wanted to thank you. You've done so much for me and my brother… and my family. Thank you. I'm sure without, I would've given up a long time ago." He said.

"Oh come on, that's not true." I said.

He just smiled back.

"Anyway, your friends are waiting. So, you'd better go." He said.

I was about to walk away when he took hold of my hand. "Next time you're in trouble, I'll come running. I'd risk my life to help you, I owe you that much." He said.

"Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow." I said.

"See ya." He said.

We both smiled at each other before we walked away.

When I got to the LRN, the guys were already there. As always, the bar was empty and the guys were talking about a mission, with hard pensive looks on their faces.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked.

"Your great-grandfather's painting is in the Kujo's basement, right? We were talking about what should happen with that." Boss said.

"Oh, ok." I said.

"Da Vinci himself put it there. Nothing illicit took place. We don't have the right to take it." Hiro said.

Hiro was right.

"But he's gone now." Takuto said.

"Yeah. Normally, the trustee should return it to an heir or family of some kind." Riki said.

"I wonder what my great-grandfather's intention was?" I asked.

"If we knew that, we wouldn't be having this meeting." Riki said.

I guess I could just ask Hyosuke for the painting, he'd probably give it to me.

"According to the police, after arresting the people involved in the organisation, there was an eyewitness report of suspicious persons near the Kujo residence." Boss said.

"Whaat? You think they were after the rest of the treasure?" Hiro asked.

"I would say it's rather likely." Riki said.

"The house is a private domain and the police can't offer much help with extra security. It's a little worrisome. What do you say we pay a visit to the Kujo's house?" Boss said.

"Yeah, I agree." I said.

"Faye, can you keep this a secret from your boy? I wouldn't want him to misunderstand that we're trying to steal his treasure." Boss said.

"Ok, for starters he's not my boy. We're just friends, end off. So I want everyone to stop acting like we're going out, ok?" I said firmly.

We decided to sneak into Kujo's basement the next day.

"Found it, there's a secret passage." Kenny said.

The passage to the basement wasn't especially hidden. It was easy for anyone to find.

"I didn't think it would be so easy to find." I said.

"There's probably some kind of trick inside." Riki said.

We went down into the basement, we walked down a set of stairs and found ourselves in front of a river, flowing through a narrow passageway.

"Huh. According to this map I found, the storehouse is that way." Takuto said and pointed down the river.

"Hmm. We have to do something about this river." Boss said.

I couldn't believe it, but we actually had diving gear in the van just in a case. But wasn't the water flowing way too fast to swim in?

"There has to be a way to get there." Hiro said.

We shone a torch around us, to look for a way around this.

"Someone's coming." Kenny shouted.

"A Kujo, right?" Takuto said. "Hey, it's us."

Takuto called out to the approaching steps and a voice speaking another language answered.

"It's Italian." Riki said.

"I thought it'd be bad if it was Kujo. It's an enemy attack." Boss said.

"Get ready guys." Kenny said.

We stood firm and some kind of ball of smoke was thrown at us. We were instantly surrounded by a pungent-smelling smoke.

"Faye, be careful you don't breathe it in." Hiro said.

I covered my mouth with my sleeve and got low to the ground, that's when I saw it. A pair of black boots were moving towards Riki, I could see partially through the smoke. They were holding a weapon.

No!

I charged forwards and knocked the guy backwards into the river, but as I rammed into him I ended up losing my footing and I fell forwards into the river.

The moment I hit the water, the current took me away. I tried my best to keep my head above the water but the river was moving so fast, it kept shooting me around. I was thrown into every direction.

Using my arms, I burst from the surface and the man I had forced into the river wasn't far from me.

He the noticed me and started to move towards me. He shouted something in Italian before he grabbed me and tried to force me under the water.

"Hey!" I shouted before he pushed me under.

I struggled but he had a firm grip of my shoulders and used his whole body weight to force me down.

I dug my fingers into his hand till he let me go. I burst out of the water gasping for breath before I started to swim away.

He shouted again and started swimming after me.

"Leave me alone!" I shouted and tried my best to out swim him.

As I continued to swim, I felt his hand grab my ankle and he pulled me back under. We struggled as he tried to get me by my shoulders again.

No!

I couldn't see under the water, my chest was starting to feel tight as I held my breath. I could feel his hands on my arms and his feet were kicking my legs.

I grabbed his wrists and pulled him towards me, I first kicked him in the stomach as hard as I could. He released his grip and I came to the surface. I then grabbed hold of his collar and punched him in the face. He moved backwards, I kicked as hard as I could and moved with the current.

The river continued to drag me alone, I tried desperately to grab hold of something but there nothing but rocks around me. I was pulled through a small gap before I saw what looked like an entrance to a cave.

With the last of my strength, I battled against the current and grabbed hold of a rock that was sitting on the floor, and pulled myself up out of the water.

"Oh god." I gasped and collapsed on the floor, coughing.

I never want to go that, again. I wondered if the guy was ok? Though I shouldn't really care, he did try to kill me after all. How on earth was I going to get out of here?

"Faye." Someone shouted.

I looked up and saw Hyosuke appear in front of me.

"Hyosuke?" I questioned.

He ran over to me and helped me sit up.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt?" he asked as he gently rubbed my back.

"Yeah, I'm ok." I said.

How did he get here? He was soaking wet too, he must have come here by the river.

"Good. What's going on? You snuck into my basement?"

"We heard that there were suspicious people hanging around. So we…"

"You should have told us."

"The guys told me not to tell you, they didn't want to worry you." I said.

"What… that's so cold. We're not strangers." He said sounding angry.

"I'm sorry." I said.

Looking around me, I saw that we were in some kind of cave.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Apparently, my basement leads here. This is my first time, too. So I don't really know." He said.

He looked around as well.

"It's so dark, I can't see anything."

There was a dull light coming from the moss that was growing here. No, the light was coming from outside but where?

"How did you get here?" I asked as we stood up.

"I was coming out of the house and I saw smoke coming from the basement. A thief ran out as I approached the passage way, when I called out to your Boss and those other guys in the smoke, they told me that you knocked another thief into the river. And then I just… I jumped in without even thinking about it."

I felt then take hold of my hands.

"Remember? I promised that I'd come running if you were ever in trouble?"

I sighed "Thank you. I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble." I said.

"Where is the thief that you pushed into the river?"

"I don't know. After I pushed him in the river, he tried to drown me but we fought and I lost him." I said.

"Why did you do that? You could have been killed." He said harshly. "I could have lost you like my parents."

I could feel his hands shaking.

"Hey, relax it's ok. I couldn't let Riki get hurt. The thief was about to hurt him and I just jumped towards him. I didn't intent to go into the river." I said.

"Is Riki that important to you?" he asked.

What? I wasn't sure how to answer. I loved being with Riki, he was such an amazing guy.

"He's my friend. Of course he is." I said after a few minutes of silence.

"Well… that answered my question." He said and let my hands go.

Just then, Kenny's head popped up out of the water, he had a scuba diving tank on his back. He removed his mask and climbed out of the water.

"You guys ok?" he asked.

He had a light with him and shone it in our direction.

"Sorry it took me so long, I had to go get the tank and a change of clothes."

"Kenny." I beamed and walked over to him. "Where are the others?"

"They're all fine."

Good. Riki was ok. I felt so relieved.

"This guy's brother noticed something was going on and he helped out. He says that around midnight tonight, the water will drain out and that's when you can go to the storehouse in the back." He said.

"Wait, so you're saying that… it only happens once every ten years?" I asked.

He nodded.

I looked at the water and noticed that the current wasn't as strong as before.

"I'm going back to the others to tell them you're ok. It's only half an hour to midnight. Can you guys wait here?" He asked.

"Yeah, we'll be fine." I said.

Kenny left us the light before he put his mask back on and dived back into the water. I took the light and found myself a rock to sit on, Hyosuke sat far from me and was looking at the ground not talking.

I was starting to shiver, it was getting quite cold.

"Do you realise, that nearly every time I'm with you I'm always wet?" I said.

"Now that you mention it." He said and I heard him chuckle softly.

I wished midnight would hurry up and get here already. The water still hadn't drained.

"But even if this place is connected to the outside somehow, where's the way out?" I asked.

I looked around, but all I could see was an entrance to a cave.

"There's a basement room inside too. We've never been in there. Maybe this is a passageway for using the water vein." Hyosuke said.

Soon, the water started to drain leaving only the long passageway behind. There was a large rock on the bottom that we couldn't see when there was water, and under that was a hole leading out of here.

"So, that's how Kenny got in here." I said.

"Come on." Hyosuke said.

I followed him through the hole and we reunited with the guys. I instantly ran to Riki and hugged him before I then hugged the others.

"Are you ok?" Riki asked.

"Fine."

"Where's the guy you knocked into the river?" Hiro asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. We fought in the water and then I lost him." I said.

Taiga then forced his way through and walked over to Hyosuke.

"Hyosuke." Taiga said.

"Taiga." Hyosuke gasped.

"You had me worried." Taiga said and looked angry at his brother.

"I'm sorry." Hyosuke said.

Boss then sniffed. "I think there's something in my eye…"

"Seriously? You're crying now? Let's get out of here." Hiro said.

And with that, we all went outside.

"How did you know that today would be the day that happens once in ten years?" I asked Taiga who was walking next to me.

"It was in one of my mum's letters." He said.

"Maybe those guys who snuck in are from the organisation, and read the letter." Riki said.

"Maybe out parents will come back tonight." Taiga said.

"Really?" Hyosuke asked.

"You haven't read all of the letters yet, so maybe you didn't notice. But a phrase came up here and there, like a code. It said 'I want to look at the new moon at night from the yard'." Taiga said.

He then looked up at the sky, and shining in the starry sky was a perfect crescent moon.

"Was it a crescent moon ten years ago, too?" I asked.

"But it didn't actually say they were coming back?" Hiro asked. "They might not know that those guys were caught. I don't know if they're gonna come."

"They're coming." Hyosuke said firmly.

"Faye, between us. What do you think?" Hiro whispered in my ear.

"I don't know, but I hope they do." I said.

"Yeah, me too." Hyosuke.

But Hiro was right, if their parents didn't know about the thieves getting arrested they may not think that it was safe to come back.

We all waited till all of the water had gone down completely.

"So, Faye. It seems that we have a work by your great-grandfather in the basement. I thought you might like to have it. You can take it if you like." Taiga said.

"Really? Thanks!" I smiled.

"Of course. We were just holding on to it for safe keeping." Hyosuke said.

Hiro leaped in the air when he heard these unexpected words.

"Yes! More treasure for the collections!"

"Ok, calm down." Riki said.

Hiro laughed "Sorry."

Everyone was smiling.

"We should be good to go now. There's an area of the basement that you can't normally get into. I'm assuming that that's the real entrance." Taiga said.

"Let's go." Hyosuke said.

"Ok." I said.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

We all headed for the basement when a car pulled up and a woman in the passenger seat came running out.

"Hyosuke! Taiga!" she shouted.

She had short brown hair that fell just below her ears and she wore a black dress.

We all turned and looked back at the gate as she came running up the garden.

"You're safe."

"Um… are you…" Hyosuke began.

"I'm sorry. I know this is sudden, I'm-"

"Mum!"

"You remembered me?" the woman asked.

"Of course I do. I looked… everywhere for you." Hyosuke said

"I'm sorry that we put you through so much." She said.

"It's ok, I understand your reasons. I wanted to see you. For so long… I'm glad you're here." Hyosuke said before he hugged him mum.

I felt so happy, he and Taiga had finally found his parents.

"Dad!" Taiga said.

An older man then got out of the car, he had short black hair and a thin moustache above his lip.

"Taiga, Hyosuke. I'm sorry we worried you." The man said.

They looked slightly older then the couple I saw in the photo, but they were the same people.

"You've grown." Hyosuke's mum said and patted Hyosuke's head with tears in her eyes.

"Mum, all these people here…. I'm older now." Hyosuke said and I could see that his cheeks were going red.

"Listen to you. You used to be the baby of the house, now you're a young man." His father said.

"Haha. The baby." Takuto sniggered.

"Excuse me. Could the tsundere stop laughing please?" Hyosuke said.

"Huh? Who's tsundere? You mean Riki." Takuto said.

"Idiot. He's talking about you." Riki said with a grin and patted Takuto's head.

"Quit that. Idiot!" Takuto snapped and hit his hand away.

"No Riki. Takkun's not tsundere, he's 'complicated tsundere'." Hiro said with a cheeky smile.

"What do that mean? Hiro you little..!" Takuto snapped and went to hit Hiro.

"Boys! It's late, cut it out." Boss said loudly.

Hyosuke, Taiga and their parents watched them and smiled.

Hyosuke and Taiga looked so happy.

"Well, the water's gone. Shall we?" Taiga said and headed towards the house.

"Mum, this is the great-granddaughter of the Japanese da Vinci." Hyosuke said as we all walked together.

"Really?" his mum said.

Both of their parents looked surprised.

"I'm Faye Stone." I said.

"So, we heard that the threat of those devils who were after the treasure is gone. And we have all of you to thank for it." His father said.

"Hee hee." Hiro laughed.

"I am… truly grateful. We couldn't do anything ourselves, it took all these years." Hyosuke's dad glanced over at his children.

"Don't worry about it. We just wanted to protect the art." Riki said.

"Let's go to the basement." Takuto said.

"Come on in." Hyosuke said. "Oh but… don't take anything. Got it?"

Hyosuke teased Takuto.

"Like I'd do that." Takuto hissed.

"Treasure. This is exciting." Kenny beamed.

We followed the Kujos into the basement.

There was a large rumbling sound from below our feet.

"Hurry! Here's the door." Hysouke said.

"Here we go." Boss said.

"Go ahead." Riki said and let me go first.

"Thanks." I said.

We were all wearing tense expressions on our faces as we headed into the basement.

"Ok Dad." Hysouke said.

Hysouke's dad was stood in front of a sturdy-looking door, key in hand. I heard the sounds of the door unlocking and the door slide open.

"Come in." his dad said.

We all went in after the Kujos.

"Wow. This is amazing." Hiro gasped.

We were stood in a huge cave, it was full of pieces of art, luxurious Japanese furniture, many boxes and ancient-looking money boxes.

"Lost masterpieces, things I've read about in art history books." I said as I gazed around the room.

I could stay here forever, if it just meant that I could admire everything in the room.

"Can I have a look around?" I asked Hyosuke's father.

"Go ahead." He said.

I grabbed Hiro's hand and pulled him along as we explored the cave. If only I had my sketchbook, I could draw some of the art.

"Isn't this just so amazing Hiro?" I asked.

"You said it." He agreed.

I stopped by a small bronze statue on the floor, or a woman dressed in a kimono and holding a fan. She looked so beautiful, it was very old. I could tell it was not from this century. I ran my fingers over the statue, taking in every detail before I continued.

The others were stood by the entrance talking.

"I beg your pardon, but what are these treasures?" Riki asked.

"For generations, our family has guarded objects belongs to everyone from great leaders like the Tokugawa shoguns. To the ancestors of the people who live in this neighbourhood." Hyosuke's dad said.

"The Kujo family descendants are the treasure guardians for the Tokugawa family?" Riki asked.

Hyosuke's father nodded.

"Keeping it safe… is something of a pretext. The Tokugawas apparently said that we weren't simply to store it. But to have a reserve in case anything happened to Edo, which is now called Tokyo." Hyosuke's mum said.

"Faye, over here." Hiro said.

I ran over to him, he was knelt over the most beautiful chests.

"Wow." I gasped.

They looked like the chests were made out of gold. Hiro opened it and inside were golden coins and other bits of treasure.

"Excuse me. Are these the Tokugawa's treasure chests?" Hiro asked.

His eyes were sparkling like mine.

I picked up a gold coin and we admired it.

"These gold coins and riches belong to people from this area, a long time ago. I heard that many were things they wanted to hide so they wouldn't be forced to give them up during the collection of the annual harvest tax. Or things entrusted to us before an air raid. During my grandfather's time, after the war, some of it was used to help revitalize the region." Hyosuke's father said.

"Riki's ancestors were the bad feudal lords." Takuto said.

"My family had nothing to do with this region." Riki said.

Takuto grinned whilst Riki looked irritated.

"Ok, but why the basement? Wouldn't a bank be a better place to keep this stuff safe?" Boss asked.

"There's an underground passage here with a water vein and caves. The water protects the treasure from enemy intrusions and fluctuations in temperature. And the cavities in this room protect them from humidity." Hyosuke's father continued.

"And since it only opens once every ten years, they don't deteriorate due to light. But I can feel the air circulating." Riki said.

They're not readily apparent, but there are vents in the room, too.

"It's like our museum storage." I said.

I can't believe they could make a perfect version of it without electricity.

"We worried that we'd be separated from this house and it'd fall into somebody else's hands. But our letters were never returned to us so we assumed our children were here… that was our hope while we were hiding. Thank you for helping our children." Hyosuke's father said.

"Hey, Faye. This painting…" Hiro said.

Hiro was stood next to paintings all stacked up against each other.

There was a sumptuous frame carefully covered with paper, and Hiro picked it up.

"That's the painting we kept for your great-grandfather." Hyosuke's mother said and she joined us.

In the painting was a little girl smiling in a field of cosmos flowers.

"Hey, don't you think that the girl looks like you?" Hiro asked.

I took the painting from him and examined it closely. It was definitely by Gramps.

"You're right." I said.

"What's this?" Hyosuke asked.

Hyosuke found a videotape in the paper that was wrapped around the painting. On the label of the tape, Gramps wrote "With Faye…"

The faint memory of Gramp's gentle face suddenly came back to me.

"Gramps…" I said thoughtfully.

"I know. We've checked to make sure the treasure's safe and it is. Why don't we all watch the video together?" Hysouke asked.

We took the video tape and Gramps' painting and headed to the living room.

The image on the TV was of me picking flowers in a cosmos field.

"Careful, you might fall." Gramps said.

"I'm ok. I wanna make a flower crown." I said.

Gramps was the one filming so we could only hear his voice. I looked about 7 years old in the film.

"You're cute." Hyosuke said.

"That's my Faye!" Hiro beamed.

"What was that?" both Hyosuke and Takuto said together.

"Ha. Looks like team Hacker gets along well." Riki laughed.

"I'm not a hacker, I'm a security specialist. I don't want to be put in the same category as the tsundere." Hyosuke said.

"Idiot! Watch your mouth. I've broken into tons of your systems. Now, you have more work." Takuto said.

"Excuse me?" Hyosuke said angrily.

"Ok, you two." Boss said.

They didn't listen and continued fighting with each other.

"Enough." Taiga shouted. "If you don't want to watch the video, go to another room."

They both gasped but instantly stopped fighting.

"Hey Boss, it looks like somebody took your job." I laughed.

"Ah, I guess. But it's nice to have someone around to scold them every once in a while." Boss said with a smile.

The home video lasted a while before at the very end, there was a message from Gramps. I saw the workshop that always felt like a hideout to me, where I used to play when I was little.

"To the Kujos, I wish to express my respect for what your family does for people and for the world. And I'd like to donate one of my works. If something happens to the region and money is needed, don't hesitate to sell it."

"Mr Stone!" both Hyosuke's parents said.

"Gramps." I said.

He was always such a great guy. I missed him.

"In exchange, I ask one think. If you're watching this video after I'm gone, please give it to my great-granddaughter. My greatest treasure isn't any of my paintings… it's my sweet great-granddaughter. Thank you."

I felt tears well up in my eyes.

Everybody was so lively, but now the living room was silent.

"The Japanese da Vinci's treasure… is Faye." Hyosuke said.

The more I thought of Gramps, the faster the tears came.

"Don't cry Faye." Hyosuke said.

I felt him rub my shoulder comfortingly.

"Gross… I can't believe this." Takuto turned bright red and left the room.

"Oh, what am I thinking? I'll make tea. Just give me one minute." Hyosuke's mother said.

"I'll help." Taiga said.

"Man, I almost forgot. We gotta pack up the diving equipment." Kenny said.

"I'll get the van. Sorry, we're going to have to borrow the yard." Boss said.

The video was over and everyone started to move.

"Can I help with anything?" I asked and stood up.

"Faye, I can't believe my mum is standing in the kitchen. It's all because of you. Thank you, so much." Hyosuke said.

He then took both of my hands firmly in his.

"It wasn't just me, everyone helped." I said.

The next day, I was back at work as normal. As for the painting that Gramps left behind, I decided to follow the instructions on the tape and donated it to the Kujos' storehouse. I was just happy to have the video.

"Stone, if you have a moment. Could you help Hyosuke with the final security check?" a co-worker asked.

"Sure, I'll be right there." I said.

I finished up some paperwork, I then headed to the main gallery.

"Hey." I said.

He was stood in the gallery, the moment I walked into the room he turned and smiled at me.

"I wanted to ask you, if I put a motion sensor light hear, would it have any negative affects on the works on display?" he asked.

"Well, it won't be shining on any of the cases." I said.

"What about at this angle?"

He stooped down and looked at the display case from the side. I did the same.

"Looks fine, you can't see any light, can you?" he asked.

"Nope." I said.

He looked like his normal self, it was as if nothing had ever happened.

"Oh, by the way. We're having a party at the LRN on Saturday. You should come." I said.

"Sure, I'd like that." He said and smiled.

Three days later, it was Saturday. I was in the LRN sat with the guys, drinking a beer. Hyosuke seemed to be fitting in, he was chatting cheerfully with everyone.

"Boss, can I have another beer please?" I asked.

"Sure, coming right up." He said.

Once I had my new beer,

"Faye, over here." Kenny said.

I walked over to him and sat down and he pushed three shots in front of me.

"Ready?" he asked.

We both picked up a glass.

"Ready."

"1.2.3." we both said before we downed both glasses one after the other.

I groaned as the shots left a harsh taste in my mouth.

"Oh that's good." I said.

I then turned and saw that Takuto was still asleep on the table. He had been working all night.

I nudged Kenny in the arm.

"Hey, should we draw on him?" I whispered.

Kenny giggled and placed his hand over his mouth to muffle his laughing. He nodded and I got a pen out of my handbag.

We both sniggered as I drew on his face. I gave him a Hitler above his mouth and a monobrow.

"Let me do it. Let me do it." Hiro said.

He snatched the pen from me and wrote across Takuto's forehead, penis.

"You guys are so immature." Riki said with a heavy sigh.

He was sat at the table doing paperwork from work.

"Oh chill out Riki and besides, he looks funny." I said.

I got out my phone and took a picture.

He then started to stir, we all quickly got back to our seats and pretended that we had done nothing.

"Looking good Tsundere." Hyosuke laughed.

"What are you talking about?" Takuto asked.

We all burst out laughing, leaving him confused. I then got a mirror out of handbag and held it up to him.

"Oh, you guys are the worst!" he shouted before he stormed off upstairs.

We all started laughing again.

Kenny bought us more shots but this time Hiro joined in as well. When Takuto came back down, he had washed all the pen off.

Boss then came from round the bar and stood at the table.

"Raise your glasses everyone. You're all here now, I'd like to say a toast." Boss said.

"Does everyone have a drink?" Kenny asked.

"I don't." Hyosuke said.

"Whoops. Sorry." Boss said.

Boss went to the bar and returned with a beer for Hyosuke.

"So, a toast. To the close of another mission, and the safe return of Hyosuke's parents. Oh wait, first we'll reflect on what we can do better next time-"

"Cheers!" Hyosuke interrupted.

"CHEERS!"

We all clinked glasses together.

"Hey, hey Hyosuke. Don't do that. I tell everyone when to toast, I'm the Boss. It's my job." Boss said.

"I'm sorry. It just seemed like… it was going to take a while." Hyosuke said.

Which made me and Hiro laugh.

"You guys are amazing. It's… like you're a family." Hyosuke said.

I looked at everyone and nodded.

"Yeah you're right. We are like a family." I said and smiled at everyone.

"So, if we're a family… does that make Faye our mum? And if Faye's the mum, that makes Boss our dad." Hiro said.

"W-w-wait!" Boss said.

He emerged from the kitchen to join the conversation.

"Why am I the dad?" he demanded. "I should be like your dependable big brother."

"I'd rather have Taiga for a big brother." Hiro said.

"Oh, I'm with you on that one. He's got this dependable, cool guy vibe going for him." Kenny said.

"Me to, I wouldn't mind a big brother like Taiga." I said.

"Huh? What about me?" Boss asked.

"Noooo." Everyone answered and laughed.

"You're the dad." Riki said firmly.

"That again, huh?" Boss said and looked sad.

"It's not too bad. You're like the provider. You're there for us when we need you." I said.

Trying to make him feel better.

"Uh, I know my brother is cool. Obviously. But that police officer was pretty cool himself." Hyosuke said.

"You mean Chief Fujioka?" I asked. "I always thought so to."

"FYI. Chief Fujioka and I are the same age." Boss said.

"And yet, you're so different." Takuto said with a mischievous smile.

"What does that mean?" Boss demanded.

Things were starting to get out of hand.

"Kenny, want another drink?" I asked.

"Sure, thanks."

"Me too, Faye." Hiro said.

I ended up getting everyone another drink including more shots for me, Kenny and Hiro.

"Whew. This is great, I haven't had this much fun over drinks in a while." Boss said.

He was drunk, he was starting to sway from side to side.

"Wow. It's 8 o'clock. Sorry, but I have plans." Hyosuke.

"Ok. Bye. Thanks for coming." I said and waved to him as he left.

"Anyway, more shots." Kenny said and gave me three more.

"You think your man enough to beat me Kenny?" I said and picked up my 6th glass.

"Bring it on."

He picked up another glass. He had bought us three more shots.

We counted before we downed one glass after another.

Three hours later, Riki was helping me up the stairs to his bedroom.

"You're unbelieveable." He said with a sigh.

He had one of my arms over his shoulders and was supporting me as I walked.

"It's not my fault, Kenny just kept getting me drinks. But I beat him." I declared.

In fact, Kenny had passed out downstairs and Hiro and Takuto were trying to get him up.

We came to Riki's room and he sat me down on the bed.

"Good night." He said.

"Hey wait." I said and grabbed hold of his hand to stop him. "Please stay."

His face turned red. "Faye. What are you saying?"

"Just stay, please. I want company." I said.

I pulled him onto the bed with me and moved over so he had room. I then turned over whilst still holding onto him and wrapped his strong arms around me.

He smelt so nice, I felt so comfy lying in his arms like this.

"Faye.." he said.

"Yes."

"Why did you risk your life for me?" he asked.

"When?" I asked.

"When you pushed the thief into the water. You could have been killed." He said and pulled me close.

I could feel his heart beating against my back.

"Um… I don't know. I saw that you were in danger and I just… had to do something." I said.

"Thank you." He whispered in my ear, his warm breath tickled my ear lobe.

I closed my eyes and I was instantly asleep.


End file.
